German Farm Families and Histories,
and Bavarian History and Resources

 Oct 25, 2025, 9:15 am to 4:30 pm Eastern

Gail Shaffer Blankenau – Our morning speaker
Gail Shaffer Blankenau is a professional genealogist, historian, speaker, and author. She holds a MA degree in history from the University of Nebraska–Kearney, and in 2023 she received the James L. Sellers prize for her article about the Grayson sisters in a volume of Nebraska History magazine.

German Farm Histories and Family Histories
For many with Germanic heritage, the history of the farm is the history of the family. Learn about farm histories, what they are and what might be in them.

Synopsis of Finding Your Roots in German Farm Histories
Until the early 1900s, most of the population in the Germanic states was engaged in agriculture. Thus, many of us with Germanic heritage will have some ancestors engaged in farming. German farm customs were different from those in America and Germans were tied to the land in ways that American farmers were not. Particularly in the earlier years, the history of your family’s farm was integral to your family history.

We will explore what farm histories are, how to use them and what kinds of records are used to construct them. We will also discuss the importance of the farm in German rural and village life and how farming differed from what we know here in the United States. In the Germanic states, farms and farmers were part of a hierarchical social structure and understanding how our ancestors fit into these structures can help us to flesh out important details in our genealogy. We will also discuss resources, websites and keywords to help in locating farm histories. Two case studies will show how research progressed from American research records “back to the farm” in Germany.

Power Combination: Using German Farm Histories with German Church Records
German church books have been called the gold standard of German genealogy, and rightly so.  Every genealogist exploring Germanic roots will utilize them. But when you add in the kind of information found in German farm histories, you will have a powerful combination of information and context that will help you better to understand your German heritage.

Maximilian Riedel – Our afternoon speaker
Since 2007 he has had a passion for genealogy and has been helping clients from all over Europe, North America and Australia. His own roots are located in Bavaria, Bohemia, Silesia and Greater Poland (Prussia). Occasionally he does research for PBS “Finding Your Roots”.

Topics:  The History of Bavaria.
Available Online resources as well as research strategies for finding ancestors in Bavaria.

Seminar Information
This seminar will be offered via Zoom only. All registered participants will also have access to the recordings for 30 days after the event.

Visit the Ohio PalAm Chapter Website for
Registration & Payment information.