Wall of love for Germanology Courses, Workshops, and Translations

Taking Katherine’s course gave me the tools and confidence to turn my heritage trip to Germany into a genealogical treasure trove. The goal of my trip was to visit the places where my many German ancestors lived before emigrating to America. Using ideas and resources gleaned from The Complete Guide to German Genealogy I was able to plan for a more rich and productive trip than I would have had without the course. All of my ancestors emigrated before Germany was unified in 1871 and record keeping was centralized. This meant I needed to rely on church records written in Old German to confirm hometowns and key life events. Katherine’s video instructions, translation guides, and practice scenarios for finding and interpreting different types of church records made my research more efficient and successful. I found entries for ancestors in dozens of German church records. During my trip, I stood at the fonts where these same ancestors were baptized, heard the same church bells ring that they heard 200 years ago, and in one instance, played the same ancient church organ that accompanied their hymns. Katherine advised us not to be shy about reaching out to local authorities and genealogical resources in German using translation tools like Deep-L. I was a slow adopter of this advice. Don’t be! Finally, a month before traveling, I began to reach out. The people I contacted were very helpful. In places where I made a local connection my trip experience was completely transformed. My best success story in this regard was a reply I got from a city government worker about a local history group. I was put in touch with an amazing local historian and co-author of Ortsfamilienbuch Denkendorf, a history of citizens (including my ancestors) gleaned from church records dating to the 1500’s. This kind person accompanied me to the local archives. There we found historical evidence for a family story I had heard while growing up - my great, great, great grandparents eloped to America because their marriage was not approved in their homeland. The trip truly exceeded my hopes for genealogical discoveries and experiences. I credit Katherine’s course for helping to make that happen by giving me a bigger tool kit for my German genealogy research.

Three years ago I was brand new to genealogy research. I was just starting to feel like I had a handle on finding US-based records and had not even considered researching my birth-father's German heritage. After attending one of Katherine's webinars, it inspired me to sign up for the Complete Guide to German Genealogy. With no idea what to expect, and only knowing that my grandmother was from someplace called "Torn", I took the deep dive into this course. Katherine's engaging teaching style led me to the passenger lists out of Hamburg and an entirely new location to research - Leibitsch, Russia. Wait, I'm Russian? Huh? Another lesson in, and I learned that this part of the world had been German, Russian, and was now part of Poland. Wait, I'm Polish?? And Oma was right - the town of Thorn, now Torun Poland, is the administrative center for Leibitsch/Lubicz. And we really are German! The Complete Guide helped me brush up on my German language background, and taught me to read the old German Kurrentschrift that had always eluded me. I learned about resources for researching church records I never knew existed. And, I gained the confidence to write to Polish and German archives and government offices I would have never dared to approach without this training. Completing the course was so rewarding. Now I know I have the skills needed to learn more about this part of my family I never knew before. Thank you, Germanology Unlocked!

I attended an all day talk AND took the five day (five hours really) class. Katherine is GREAT. She is clear, keeps it simple, repeats instructions for web pages. Her insistence on using USA records until one finds the Heimat (hometown) is spot on. Using her FAN approach I added some sideways relatives and found an origin town for the oldest child who I had previously ignored. Puts me in Bamberg next!

Back To School German Genealogy I really enjoyed the course and all the helpful tips and handouts. Unfortunately, my schedule did not allow me to attend the sessions in person, but the recordings were great and I appreciate being able to go back to view them again over the next few months. I thought that I was at a brick wall in my research but now I know that I have many more sources of information to explore. I can't wait to give reading the old church records a try. Thank you!

I went back to school with Katerine and it was a most enjoyable experience! She has such a great depth of knowledge and presents it in a way that's easily understood by her students. I will definitely be back next year for more classes!!

Courses about researching German records through churches, both Catholic and Protestant and Jewish. Using state and county records and finding the house they lived in, and state. Also census and immigration records.

I took the series of back-to-school classes. In all the classes, I got good information and tips from Katherine and other class members. Since I had not used AI in my genealogy work before, I found the AI class particularly informative, and I’m sure it will prove to be very helpful in the future.

I took the Deciphering German Church Records class with Katherine Schrober. I was a complete beginner when I took the class. In each class, Katherine taught us in small chunks so we could take it in and practice what we learned each week. The first part of the class would be a review and the rest would be learning new content and playing fun games. Each class would build on what we learned in the previous class, so we built a slow understanding of the letters, then small words, to family names to occupations, and finally to paragraphs or columns that you see in old German church records. We had a little bit of homework each week to help us practice and understand what we were working on. The best part of the classes is when Katherine would share websites and sources to help us in our research and translation. I learned so many new websites to help with recognizing letters and words in the old Kurrentschrift. By the time I finished the class - I would call myself an intermediate student. Translating church records takes a lot of practice but with Katherine's help and these classes, I can spot sight words now. If I get stuck on a particular word - Katherine has given us several websites to try and decipher the words which helps with the translations. I am so glad I took this class - it was so worth the cost. I am armed with so many sources to help me with my translations and it's all from the help of these classes. Thank you Katherine for 8 weeks of fun, comradery, and the confidence to read through old German church records. This knowledge lasts a lifetime!

I took both the German for Genealogists and German Handwriting courses. These courses have helped me so much in understanding how to read church records and I have successfully translated many of my German ancestor's records as a result. I feel like I know so much more about my ancestors because of what I learned from you. Thank you for your continued help and support in the upcoming immersion class. I'm looking forward to it!

Years ago, I was lucky enough to attend 2 Miller family reunions where I received a lot of family information. But until now I was unable to explore them in more detail since many of the records were in either German or Latin. After taking the Back to School Extravaganza that Katherine put together, I was motivated to tackle the records. As a result, I discovered two more generations on my family tree. Thanks Katherine!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to School Classes were 4 days of classes and the fifth day was a question and answer with the instructor. I found the classes very helpful and was able to use the handwriting on a document after class. The essential Tips have aided me with a brick wall I had. As for the question-and-answer class I found information on my ancestors from a question another student had asked. I would recommend this five day event to anyone starting out in German Genealogy and for anyone currently researching. The information provided has helped me move forward in my research.

I took Katherine's back to school week long seminar, and had signed up for the Reading the Old German Handwriting Course and German for Genealogist bundle. What I like about these courses are that I can do them after work or on the weekend. I have learned some valuable tools from Katherine that have helped me narrow down where one line of my ancestors came from. The guides she provides, suggestions for books and websites have been invaluable to me. I am just so pleased that I discovered Germanology Unlocked at Roots Tech this year. It has been the help that I needed to further my research. While I have not found my particular ancestor yet, I am slowly making headway to finding him. The reading old German handwriting class has helped me on a different German line where I struggled to find my Curth (Kurth) name in the church books.

The class I took was Back to School German Genealogy 2024 The class was well organized with plenty of resource material supplied as downloads. These materials alone are worth taking the class. The ability to review the class video for days that I was unable to attend was something I appreciated and used. Katherine is a very effective presenter. She was always prepared and able to answer any question that was asked. I highly recommend this class.

Katherine, I really enjoyed your Back-to-School webinar series on one of the most important dimensions of German genealogy research - church records. Your patient coaching of our webinar group about the importance of the precise location of their home, the precise spelling and variations of spelling of the family name, and the two most important websites for research - Archion.de and Matricula.org. The terse review of reading the old German script was also helpful. I now feel more competent to dive into church records, knowing more of what to expect and what to do when I don't find it on the first or second try. The recordings were good for a review after the live sessions, and the printed syllabus was also good as a reminder for website addresses and much fore. Thanks again for putting it together and offering such good value for the price of admission. Best regards, Joseph Gano Naperville IL (an advanced genealogist)

The "Back To School" course was very informative and interesting. I liked the interaction with the other participants. The lesson on the old script was even fun. I did not realize until a day later how much I learned. I looked at a German birth certificate of my great-great grandmother and the letters just jumped out at me, and I could read it much easier than before!

I have been doing genealogy since the 1980s and have my paternal line back to 1754, but have never been able to cross the pond to Germany because of the spelling of my maiden name. Until recently I was satisfied with that. Now I want to go further back and have taken the one week course on Germanology Unlocked and have signed up for the German Handwriting course. I have learned so much and feel more confident that I can tackle my brick wall. Katherine is a wonderful teacher and she takes care to make every concept clear to her students.

I took the 5 day course on German Records in August 2024. As always, Katherine was a fantastic teacher. Her lessons are clear, concise, fun and full of useful tips. She is open to students at all levels and I always get so many helpful insights from her sessions.

I took the Back to School workshop and it was fantastic. Katherine is an incredible teacher. Through her teaching I have a much better handle on German handwriting and the resources she provided for finding records were beyond my expecations!

The courses "Back to school Extravaganza" was thoroughly enjoyed.You can teach an old dog new tricks. Katherine covers many useful topics. Whether a beginer or experienced in Geneology These resources are well worth trying. Tim Blymire

Dear Katherine I want to take a moment to thank you for the outstanding work you and your team did in translating the book about my family. The work was superb and I was especially impressed with the fact that you created active links in the footnotes allowing me to gain even more information. I would highly recommend your company and I would be happy to speak with anyone having questions about your services. Thanks again. Barbara Gimperling

I took the German Handwriting course. Reading German handwriting was a struggle, but this course made it easier. I am able to more clearly translate church records. Before I would look up a record in Archion.de (records are not translated and/or indexed like in Ancestry or FamilySearch and they include records not available in Ancestry or FamilySearch). When I could find the record, I could make out the name and the dates since they were in numerals. Anything else was a struggle or guess work. Now I am able to figure occupations, which I always wanted, relationships, legal marriages, etc. You can access more information. Was it fun? I've always struggled with languages and they were not fun. I had 2 years of high school German and Latin, 1 year of college French, 2 years of college German and Latin, 3 and a half years of college Classic and Koine Greek, and one year of Hebrew (I'm a Lutheran pastor). If I had Katherine's teaching course in those languages, I would have enjoyed it much more. In closing, I would suggest after you complete the course and Katherine has graciously allowed us to go back and review, use the first chapters on large and lower case vowels and concenents as a "warm up" before you tackle a German record. I find it a good prep for a day of searching through church records.

I recently completed "Reading the Old German Handwriting", and I am delighted to recommend this self-paced, bright-hearted course to anyone who is pursuing German ancestors. Katherine Schober introduces each new area of study with a confidence building video lecture and then sets you free to advance through exercises of increasing levels of difficulty on your own. My first encounters with Kurrentschrift left me immediately overwhelmed, and I have a "reasonable" background in German. As a result of the online course and reading Katherine's book "The Magic of German Church Records", I now feel capable of being able to extract most of the primary data in almost any German records I delve through. I love solving puzzles, and this has been a form of that with big time rewards when I'm able to advance (to the rear) my search for family data. Where I previously would have described myself as more or less of a dilettante in the land of genealogy, I have unquestionably taken it up a notch and the credit is all due to Katherine. I "found" her through Amazon and the "Magic of Church Records" book. This led me to the online courses, through which I have found the YouTubes and webinars and an "A ticket" membership for translations, etc. Because of Katherine, there exists a beautiful level of honesty, openness and sharing. I get zero sense she is holding something back (to be sold for more money at a later date). I have encountered this shaky business approach with some "professional" genealogists who try to keep you on the hook until your bank account runs dry. The "mystery money" approach does not work for me. Katherine has not a hint of this, but offers up instead a charming breath of clean fresh air and continued growth.

I took the Reading German Handwriting course and it has made a huge difference in my ability to decipher handwritten documents. A variety of record types were presented in a detailed manner, showing different styles of handwriting. The records were studied in column and paragraph formats, with many entertaining ways to practice your skills in each section. I'm so thrilled that I no longer fear those seemingly indecipherable church documents, and using the skills from this course I can successfully tackle them!

I took the German Handwriting course. I have been working recently on Czech church records and many are written in the Old German handwriting style. I learned a lot and feel much more confident in translating the Czech records. In fact, when I go back and look at records I previously translated, I can see more words I can translate, translate some of the notes written on the church records, and correct my mistakes. The course was so very well structured with videos and hands on practice. It also helps that you can at your own pace

I first encountered Katherine Schober at the Virtual IGGP Seminar. She was one of the best speakers I have ever encountered as she took her time, moved through her presentation, loved answering questions and looked for feedback. After a webinar a few months later, she offered special pricing on 2 courses German for Genealogists and Reading the Old German Handwriting. I was extremely interested, but what really clinched it was when she said there were flash cards, matching games, etc. throughout the entire courses. I was in and boy oh boy did I get a SMOKING DEAL! These 2 courses are absolutely AMAZING and really put my brain to work. You get to pace yourself, have a study buddy if you want, review, review, review and have lifetime access. Katherine was available for any questions. Katherine put together an amazing group of courses and I can't wait until her next course! Both courses have multiple modules and lots of practice and testing to be sure you get it. All I can tell you, is this will be an OUTSTANDING investment of your GENEALOGY DOLLARS AND TIME!

I recently completed the Germanology Unlocked course “German for Genealogists” presented by Katherine Schober. Each lesson began with a video presentation, followed by flash cards, matching games, and short quizzes to reinforce the material. Katherine’s delivery of the material was lively and interesting, and it truly felt as if she was sitting directly in front of me sharing her knowledge. Although the course is prerecorded, Katherine is extremely responsive, encouraging, and helpful when you have questions or need further explanations. The course was challenging for me, but it also was a lot of fun. I may not be able to translate a full document, but I am able to look at German birth, marriage and death records and determine dates, names, places, and pertinent information. I must admit that I didn’t conquer all the material and will especially need more work in understanding verbs. However, anyone interested in searching through German documents to further their family genealogy study would find this class extremely worthwhile.

The Germanology Unlocked Reading the Old German Handwriting course is more than just ..."this is an A" and "this is letter F". Katherine's lessons carefully lead you step by step through the alphabet (WHY are there so many different ways to make an S? Take the class and find out!). She also gives you clues and fun memory tricks to decipher the letters that were written by a tired clerk over 150 years ago (it's so easy to confuse u, n, and m... not to mention a and o). From there she teaches common combinations and common words. The well paced lessons are filled with good examples, and end with quizzes and vocabulary games. And you can download PDFs for your own reference library. Best of all, you can watch each lesson and go back to the flash cards and games as often as you like. After finishing the class.. the fog has lifted. I can read the birth certificates and documents. And with practice, it gets easier.

I am so glad I learned about these courses. I took both the Reading German Handwriting and German for Genealogists. The two classes work together perfectly. I am excited to use my new skills to research the many lines in both my husbands and my own family tree who are from Germany. I know I will continue to improve my skills and love we are able to go back to the courses as needed for refreshing our skills. I was looking at some German records on Ancestry yesterday and it was exciting to be able to pick out the key words I needed. Thanks for all the information

I had taken some webinar and in-person courses in reading old German handwriting, however Katherine Schober's course on Reading the Old German Handwriting really escalated my skill level. Her video lectures, followed by practice games and exams make the learning easy and fun. She offers a lot of helpful tips and provides downloadable handouts to keep for future reference. Even before I finished the course I was able to go back to old church records that were previously just a lot of gibberish, and I was able to read and understand what was written. This course is well worth the investment of time and money, I look forward to extending my family history research further into Germany!

I’ve tried other methods of learning to read old German handwriting, and Reading the Old German Script is the best approach I’ve found! The different lesson types and real world examples really help to make it memorable and usable. Having the course available long term is a bonus if I need a reference later.

Katherine initiated the January challenge to incentivize us to complete the Old German Handwriting course. It was perfect timing for me. I had been wanting to complete the course but I was moving slowly. The course was challenging but the flash cards and matching made the learning fun. The more I practiced the more I improved. Section C, with the Vital Records and Letters, was the ultimate challenge! I have printed these examples and placed them in a binder. I practice with them to improve my recognition. Katherine's tips are very helpful, such as playing hangman and Word Mine. Recently, I went back to a ship manifest that transported my 2 times great grandparents & their family from Hamburg to New York in 1882. It was a pleasure to be able to read the German words of the columns and the words following the names of the family members, such as Frau, Tochter, Sohn, etc. I really appreciate the excellence of Katherine's course and her ability as an instructor to motivate me!! Thank you, Katherine!!

I took Reading the Old German Handwriting and found it to be a fun and well-organized course, covering not only Kurrentschrift handwriting recognition but also a wealth of information on common content and structure of genealogical records and on frequently encountered words in these records. Katherine's teaching style is clear and engaging, and I love the fact that I could complete the course at my own pace and can return to it as many times as I need to for a refresher! Once I tracked my great-great-grandfather to the right town in modern-day Romania, I found a treasure trove of German-language records and have uncovered additional generations and unknown family members! I don't know how I would have been able to decipher all of those records without the help of this course and the other Germanology Unlocked resources. I would highly recommend the course to anyone whose genealogy journey leads them into the world of German-language records.