People immigrated to the United States from Germany in three major waves, spurred on by undesirable conditions in their homeland:

1683–1820: Religious persecution, wars, and other hardships
1820–1871: War and conscription
1871–1914: Religious persecution, political unrest, overpopulation, and low wages

Start in the United States

Germans settled throughout the United States, with large concentrations remaining on the East Coast. Others migrated to the Midwest or traveled through the Port of Galveston and remained in Texas.

Many Germans held strong to their roots, retaining their native languages and the German spellings of their surnames after immigrating. During WWI and WWII, anti-German sentiment was high, leading some local governments to ban the German language in schools and public places. At this time, many German Americans Americanized their German surnames. Oches became Oaks, Schwartz became Black, and Muller became Miller.

Start with the most recent records for members of your family who descend from German ancestors. Look at the 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 censuses, military draft registration cards, yearbooks, obituaries, and other records on Ancestry. The Census & Voter Lists collection includes state and federal censuses, tax lists, jury lists, and more.

When you find a record that you’re confident is connected to your family, save it to your tree. That way, the details you add from the record can help you discover more records.

From any page on Ancestry, click the Search tab and select Census & Voter Lists
In the search fields, enter a name and birth year, plus any other information you know (like residence or birthplace).
Click Search.
Click on any promising results and inspect the details. Family names, ages, relationships, birthplaces, occupations, and addresses can help you determine whether you’ve found the correct family.
Try expanding and narrowing your search to find more relevant results.

What you want to find
Look for where in Germany the person lived. Some passenger lists and naturalization documents will include a location in Germany. Search for details on death certificates, church records, military documents, and wills. Look at immigration and travel records created by other immigrating family members, which may include the details you’re seeking. When you find a location in Germany, use that to find German records for your relatives.

Census records didn’t begin recording naturalization or immigration information until 1900, but earlier census records (back to 1850) include birthplaces. For census years 1860, 1870, and 1880, a state in Germany may be listed instead of "Germany."

Find the person who immigrated in the immigration and travel collection

People who immigrated from the area of present-day Germany didn’t always define themselves as “German.” You may find different classifications in older records. Terms like Prussian, Hessian, Palatine, Bavarian, and Swabian refer to places that were part of or became part of the country now called GermanyGerman family heritage.

Search for records directly related to immigration. The Immigration & Travel collection includes passenger arrival lists, naturalization documents, passport applications, and other records connected to international travel.

This collection can help you discover when your ancestors arrived and learn what details they reported to obtain citizenship. Women and children may not have naturalization records and may have been naturalized through a parent or spouse, depending on laws at the time.

From any page on Ancestry, click on the Search tab and select Immigration & Travel.
In the search fields, enter any information you learned about the person from the census records and change the Collection Focus to Germany.
Click Search.
Analyze your finds against known facts to be sure you have the right person. Compare dates, family members, and other details in records you find to the information you’ve already collected about your relative to see if you’ve found the right person. Discrepancies are common in records, and census immigration dates may be off by a few years. Even first and last names may differ slightly, because immigrants often Americanized their names after arriving in the United States.

Use names, birthdates, and place information to find records created in Germany

Knowing where your ancestor lived and details about their family can help you find the right person. When searching for German records, you'll get the best results if you search keywords, occupations, and place names in German. See Researching German Records for help.

From any page on Ancestry, click on the Search tab and select All Collections.
In the search fields, enter the information you found about the person who immigrated from Germany. If their name was spelled differently in Germany, search with the German version of their name.
Change the Collection Focus to Germany. (If you don’t see Collection Focus, click the Show more options link.)
Click Search.
Once more, analyze details in the records you find against details you already know–family members’ names and ages, locations, and so forth.
When you find records that mention family members, do more searches for those family members, going further back generation by generation.

Tips for searching names
The names of people who immigrated can be hard to pinpoint, but the following tips can help:

Use the internet to help you find ethnic equivalents of names. For example, if you're searching for someone whose last name is "Black," find the German word for "black" (Schwartz) and search with that last name. Also search using alternate spellings of a name.
Search with lengthened and shortened names. Remember that more than one relative may have changed their surname, or someone may have changed their surname multiple times. For example, "Weisenberger" may have become “Weisenberg,” then “Weisen,” and finally, “Wise.”
Use wild cards to search (using asterisks to replace some letters in a name). For example, if a surname was “Berlengauem,” “B*rl*g*m*” would find both that name and “Burlingame,” along with other variants.
Search using criteria only. Leave the last name out of the search, using birthplace, age, gender, occupation, and other details to find people who match your relative. Pay special attention to the names in your search results. Do any of them seem to reflect your relatives?
Check immigration records and passports carefully. Sometimes they include notations indicating a previous name change. Search with maiden names. Female ancestors may have traveled using their own family name, even if they were married at the time.

Other search resources

Hamburg passenger lists: Hamburg was one of the top ports of departure for German and Eastern European immigrants to America and elsewhere. Search here for a record of departure.
German phone directories, military records and censuses: Search these collections to learn more about your relative’s life and the names of other family members in Germany.
Jewish Family History Collection: We’ve partnered with JewishGen®, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation, Inc., the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the USC Shoah Foundation, and Arolsen Archives to create a collection of over 20 million Jewish historical records. You can select Europe and search those records specifically.
Message boards: Connect with other researchers looking for German records.
Family trees: Find family members, possibly even distant cousins, who are researching the same family lines you are. One of them may have the details you’re searching for.