Finding My Bavarian Ancestors

After years of searching, I finally broke through my family history brick wall and discovered my great-grandparents' village in Bavaria. The breakthrough came when I found a marriage record that mentioned their specific village of origin. The journey began with my grandfather's naturalization papers, which only mentioned "Bavaria" as the place of origin. Through methodical research in church records and working with German genealogical societies, I was able to narrow down the location to the Upper Palatinate region. The key discovery was finding my great-grandparents' marriage record in a small village church book. This record not only provided their exact birthplaces but also included their parents' names and occupations. From there, I was able to trace the family back three more generations. What made this discovery especially meaningful was connecting with distant cousins who still live in the area. They shared old family photos and stories that helped bring our shared ancestors to life.