How can I find ancestry in Germany (the Dittmers)?

Question:

How can I find ancestry in Germany (the Dittmers)?

My great great grandfather's , Albert Richard Dittmer (born in IL in 1864 d. 1941) parents, John and Anna (or Annie) C. Dittmer b. 1835 d. 1917) , were from Germany, according to the US 1880 census. I don't have any other information about John and Anna, and was wondering if it would be very difficult to research them in Germany. They are buried in Loraine, IL. I don't know when they got married or when they came over, but their third child and after were all born in the US (the first two died before the 1880 census, so I don't know if they were born in the US. I would appreciate any information!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: A LDS Center (Mormon Church) has a lot of records on people all over the world. Those people are very helpful and they want be coming by and knocking on your door to convert you.

There are websites with lots of information. Ancestry.com has lot of records and is obtaining more.

Also if Illinois was recording vital records at the time of death, a death certificate usually gives name of both parents and their place of birth. Might not give you the exact German state (such as Prussia, Bavaria etc. ) and city they came from. But with the names of their parents you would have a leg up on finding where in Germany they came from.

I have a friend, both parents came from Italy. She has found lots of information on her family at the National Archives in Washington, D. C.

Someone has an entry in Ancestry.Com showing Albert Richard Dittmer March 11, 1864 in Germany and died March 4, 1941 in Quincy, Illinois. It shows his parents as John Curd Dittmer, born June 3, 1831 in Hanover and Anna C.Ackerman born June 12, 1835 in Saxon, Attenburg, Germany. Rootsweb has the same information under World Connect as Ancestry.Com but Rootsweb is free.

Now the information is not documented so you should get your own documentation such as death certificates.

You can try the Ilinois GenWeb project and then go to the county Loraine is in and they usually tell you where to write for death certificates.