How would I find out if a name was changed when an ancestor of mine came over from Germany in the 1800's. Tomschin is not a very common name and I would like to see how far I can trace it back.How would I find a name change record?
There are several websites which will be helpful. A good place to start is Cyndi's List. There is a entire page dedicated to Germany/Deutschland resources and links. http://www.cyndislist.com/germany.htm
Then there is A Collection of Favorite German Russian Sites at http://www.ahsgr.org/links.htm
and German Roots at German Roots/German Genealogy at http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/
Finally, there are the Ships and Passenger Lists at http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/passengHow would I find a name change record?
I checked on the German version of Ancestry but it has no info regarding the meaning or history of the name Tomschin. However, the name is still found in Germany with the highest incidence occurring around Berlin.
In order to search the German records effectively you need to know not only which village they came from but also what religion they were. The civil registers only start in 1800 before that you have to go to the church archives and those are written in Latin.
