Understanding Your Western European Ancestors

The majority of Americans can trace their family to at least one ancestor who lived in Western Europe. Of course, life for these ancestors varied greatly between countries. Yet, these Western European ancestors shared many of the general living conditions and were affected by many of the same events. I’ve tried to include information about some of these common experiences in this section.

You may notice my information is slanted towards Germany, Sweden, and England. This is because these are countries in my which my ancestors lived. I’ve included more information about these places in the Ancestors in Specific Localities section. Particularly if you have family or interested in Mecklenburg, German; Skåne, Sweden; or Buckinghamshire, England you should check out these pages too.

This section is divided into the following categories. For more information on a particular topic, click on that link.