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The latest issue of the International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP) newsletter Partner Zeitung is now available at the link below. The newsletter contains information about making hotel reservations for the 2023 IGGP conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Welcome to the MAGS web site!

 
Use your member login to access all the features of our website. Use the Join MAGS Now tab on the left side of the page to join our organization. Membership is only $15 per year.
 
The MAGS officers are excited that you have found our website. We are frequently adding information to this site so please come back often. The site also provides us with the ability to manage our membership, communicate with our members, and allows you to find information about and register for events.
 
Watch this video to  learn about what MAGS has to offer.
 
 

What's New ?

16 Sep 2023 A new issue of the IGGP Partner Zeitung has been published. See the link at the top of this page.
9 Sep 2023 The September issue of Der Kurier has been published on the website. You can see a synopsis of the articles on the Der Kurier tab.
1 Jun 2023 See the new MAGS promotional video (Learn About MAGS) above. This video will be featured at the MAGS booth at the IGGP Conference 2023 in June.
31 Mar 2023
Baltimore Hertiage Society has several video presentations on Baltimore, Maryland.
This YouTube video is about the Hansa House on Redwood St. It has a long German history, and it may be of interest  to our membership.
10 Feb 2023 Recent board meeting minutes, fall conference minutes, financial and membership reports are now on the Members page under Documents and Reports.
12 Jan 2022 A new dataset has been added to our database collection. The records of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cleveland (1853-1911) document the lives of many German immigrants from Osnabrück and other locations in Germany. See a more detailed description on this page.
24 Aug 2021 An interesting new data file has been added under the MAGS Databases tab. It is a list of missionaries who were trained at the Basel Mission in Switzerland and who came to the United States to serve as pastors. Nearly 300 men have been identified, and detailed information about them can be found in The Archives at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. An article describing the pastors and the sources of the list will appear in the October issue of Der Ahnenforscher, the newsletter of the German Genealogy Group.
11 Jul 2021 Three new research documents have been posted to the members-only website. A new record guide for the American consulate general at Dresden is now available. It can be found under the Members tab, then Documents and Reports, then Consulates - Research Guides. There are also new fact sheets for Bavaria and Saxony. They can be found under German States - Fact Sheets.
20 May 2021
Great News!
 
On May 19th the National Genealogical Society announced that John T Humphrey, former MAGS president, author, and speaker was inducted into the National Genealogy Hall of Fame. John was nominated for the award by our society. The MAGS board and society members should be honored that the NGS accepted our nomination. John was a leading force in MAGS for many years before his untimely death in 2012.
 
You can read the announcement and details of the award at this link.
 

Document of the Month

 
MAGS member Gordon Seyffert submitted this document. Following is his description of where he located the document and the information he discovered. For a translation of the document, click here.
 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was never permitted to film church records in Saxony, and so in order to attempt to learn more about my ancestors in Zwenkau (south of Leipzig), I had to turn to their films of the court records which (being government and not church records) they were able to film.  This page shows the family members selling a small garden plot that had been owned by their late wife and mother.  It was being sold out of the family after at least six decades of ownership, but they had no deed for the land.  Therefore it was necessary to establish chain-of-title in order to satisfy the buyer, and this document (including subsequent pages) was able to provide me the names of seven new ancestors and close relatives (and their relationships to one another).  The handwriting is beautiful, as well as readable!

Gift from the Archives

November 13, 2022

The National Day of Mourning (Volkstrauertag) is an occasion to remember all victims of war and tyranny. Like the Sunday of the Dead (Totensonntag), the National Day of Mourning is a “silent day” - this means that in some regions of Germany music or dance events are prohibited.


November 10
Mapping an Empire
Presented by Michelle Tucker Chubenko, AG   What are 18th and 19th cadastral maps? Learn how to locate collections in archives, and how to interpret the maps for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Discover tools to compare cadastral maps with current maps using various digital resources and to document where your ancestor’s ...

November 11
MAGS Fall Meeting
Eastern European Genealogy featuring Michelle Tucker Chubenko, CG   Please join us in person at the Maritime Institute for our fall conference. It will be a hybrid event; you are welcome to attend in person or join us via Zoom. For those attending remotely, a link to join the event ...