Collecting France, Germany, & Ireland

My immigrant ancestors came to the United States from France, Germany, and Ireland. I have found many records in the United States about my ancestors (ship passenger lists, citizenship, marriage, children's births, death, military service, and census) but these documents rarely tell me more than the name of the country, region, or county where they lived. To find earlier generations of ancestors in the “home country,” I need the name of the village, town, or city where my immigrant ancestor was born.

The postmarks on thousands of old envelopes and postcards in postal history collections link someone in the United States with a specific place in another country. A return address with a sender's name, especially if the sender and addressee share a common family name, gives even more information. Not every envelope and postcard sent from another country will involve family or an ancestor's exact birthplace, but many do. The philatelic genealogy website (http://philgen.org) is a growing collection of digital images of envelopes and postcards with information on the sender and/or recipient connecting people to their ancestral homelands. If you have an envelope or postcard that helped you locate your ancestor's birthplace, please add it to the collection.

-Jim Miller