At first glance, this website may be difficult to comprehend.  Please spend as much time as necessary to become familiar with it.  There is a tremendous amount of data included in this database.  If you speak English or German, you can switch back and forth between languages for most of the pages on the website.

We encourage your to log into the site in order to view all details.  Registration is free.  This is a security measure.  We must verify users who wish to view personal information on living individuals.  If you have registered but cannot view photographs and dates of living individuals, try logging in again.  If you have additional information or changes you feel need to be made, please notify us.  We are happy to consider improvements to the accuracy and completeness of the database.  We would also love to have more documents, histories, and photographs.

Left Menu Bar
Become familiar with the menu bar at the left hand side of your browser.  It includes categories that will quickly allow yourself to jump from resource to resource.  It is the best way to "browse" the categories for general information.  For example, you can view a complete list of photographs, histories, albums, videos, places, etc. by clicking on one of the links on the left menu bar.  

Individual Information
However, to view specific information on individuals, it is best that you use the search function located in the upper left-hand corner of the page.  When searching for married women, please use their maiden names.  Also, you may wish to search using variations of the person's first and last name.  For example, you may wish to search for the first name "Tom".  If it doesn't find any individuals, use "Thomas".  Last names are often have various spellings that you should try.

Once you have found an individual, you will usually see three main sections: personal, parental, and family.
The personal section shows information  regarding that particular individual.  The next section usually shows parental information if it is known.  This is followed by a section that shows family information for the individual, including wives, children, and relevant dates and locations.  If there are other resources, such as photographs, histories, or documents regarding that individual, you will see them toward the bottom of the page.

Just a quick note regarding locations...if there is a green magnifying glass icon next to the location, you can view a Google map of it simply by clicking on the icon.  If you click the gray magnifying glass, you can view photographs of the location (if they exist), as well as any persons who had an event (birth, marriage, death, etc.) at that particular location.   

Other Views (top menu bar)
Once you have found the individual, you can click on one of the many tabs at the top of the page.  You will find the "Ancestors" tab and the "Descendents" tabs very useful.  If you click the "Ancestors' tab, you can view ancestors of the selected individual in a chart format similar to a family tree.  The chart is interactive, so you can can view spouse/children names of many ancestors all on the same webpage.  Portraits of the individuals will be show if available.  If you would like your portrait to be displayed, or changed, please email me the photograph you wish us to use. 

The "Descendents" tab is similar in that it shows all the descendents of the individual.  It it also interactive.

Have you ever wondered how to calculate the relationship from one individual to the next?  Well, it is simple if you use the "Relationship" tab.  It will show the relationship between any two individuals in the database if the there is a direct relationship. 

The "Gedcom" option is disabled for security purposes.