Cheryl: Thank you for your nice compliments about my books. I am so glad you enjoyed them. Re: your question about genealogical tours: as a retired travel agent, I can tell you that few agencies will bother with them as they are simply not economically feasible. Unless you have a large group, they cannot get the airline or wholesale tour agencies discounts to make the price reasonable. For 3 or 4 people the cost would be prohibitive. For a general tour you certainly wouldn't want to have to go traipsing to England, France, Italy or Russia, would you? Even within Germany, if your interests lie in the Weser area, you would no doubt be bored visiting someone else's cousins in, say, Bavaria or Berlin.
I do know of one in Sarasota (and I'm sure you could find one such in the Boston area) that will take small family groups to one or two villages in a limited area but as I understand it, they will take pictures, let you meet some cousins, if any, etc. but allow very little time for in depth genealogical research. And it is very pricey!!!
I should suggest contacting the gentleman Werner recommended and see what he has to offer for a general tour of the area and then, once you are familiar with the area, allow yourself an extra week or more to do your actual research. You will find the Church-book custodians, in most small villages, to be most helpful - for a small fee, of course. But you can learn a lot simply by writing letters to the individual churches. Good luck. Jane
Jane Swan
jeswansong@earthlink.net
Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
I met a James Derheim in Darmstadt, and later in St. Louis; he does tours.
Mostly, he photographs ancestral towns on demand. I have no info on where he
lives, but I did record his e-mail: eurofocus@aol.com
Bob Doerr in the beautiful Missouri Ozarks
Hello,
I just want to say that Germany is not a hard place to drive and find
your own way around. If you rent a car, you can go on your own, at your own
pace, and with a really good detailed map (like my Falk autoatlas), you can
find what you need. Having a human navigator, i.e. map-reader, is most
useful. We've gone to Germany twice and loved it. You need not be afraid of
the autobahn (stay in the slower lane and let the fast drivers pass you by).
It can be congested in the larger cities--we've gotten "lost" in a few
European cities, but somehow always found our way. The best story I know is
when my sister and husband went into Köln (Cologne) about 10 pm on a
Saturday night. They went to the city center and there were cars and people
everywhere. They saw a hotel and managed to park the car in the reserved
parking in front and went in to make arrangements for a room. They left
their luggage in the hotel and went out to move the car to a lot supposedly
down the street. They missed the turn and didn't see it. Then tried to go
back and, of course, everything becomes a blur. The worst part of it was
they realized they didn't even know the name of the hotel and they had left
their luggage there! Around midnight they finally found it -- Whenever
you make a wrong turn in a big city .... But that goes for American big
cities as well.
And, yes, allow a lot of time to do your own research. It ALWAYS takes
longer than you think!! That is why some of my loose ends in the Emsland
area are still hanging - Bavaria as well.
The best part of all is seeing the towns/cities where your ancestors
came from! It is so wonderful. Their cemeteries are so nicely kept -- but
don't hope to find anything in most places earlier than 50 years or so. You
just can't do all that on a tour.
Barbara
Dear Barbara,
I think driving where you don't know where your at and parking..tis time to pay the guy who watches de cars..lol:) As I did in Nah Leans. Five bucks well spendt.
Else I'd still be looking for my car!!