Re: "I do not know either language." (German & French) One needn't usually be fluent in the language because vital records have a very limited vocabulary. And, "cheat sheets" are available. The tricky bits are deciphering old (especially, Germanic) script and the "Napoleonic" calendar. -rt_/)

Greetings Researchers: Would anyone know about a book or.... other document that would have information about immigrants from the city of Metz to America in the mid 1700's. I have a World War I map of France that shows Metz on a river (can't make out the name bad eyes) and at this time Metz appears to be in the Province?? of Lorraine. The reason for my searching for info on Metz is that there is a town in WV named Metz and one would assume that it was named for the Metz in Lorraine. Hoping to find my family info. Which in this country is spelled Efaw but might be also Efaugh, Ephaw, Efau, Easau etc. Any help very, very much appreciated. bob e -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for home users. SPAMfighter has removed 5446 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len

Marilyn Like you, I don’t know the language, German, French or Latin. My approach was to scan records for the right surname, make a copy, and figure out what the record was when I got home. The FamilySearch.org site has language guides that can help you. When you order the film ask about the procedure to make copies. Some Family History Centers now have the ability to copy records to CDs or Flash drives. You provide the CD or Flash drive. It is my understanding that this option is free. Curt Miller -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Marilyn Potthast" <omaandopa06@att.net> > That you for the input. Will go to LDS and hope they can help me as I do > not know either language. I do know someone who knows German but would have > to have her with me while looking at the records. > > -----Original Message----- > From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Linda H. > Gutierrez > Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 2:55 PM > To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > > Hi Marilyn, > > Well since you have the town name your next step would be to go to your > local FHL and order the films for that area so that you can find more > information about your great grandfather and his family. > > Since you have his birth record, you should also have the names of his > parents. So first you would probably want to locate their records, birth and > marriage. You can also inspect the birth records for siblings. This is > done by looking for any records with the names of both parents. > > Once you have your grandfather's generation and parents well documented you > can go back another generation, etc. > > Here is a listing for the civil records for Cosswiller: (these records will > be in French and German) > > Title Registres de l'état civil, 1793-1882 > Authors Cosswiller (Bas-Rhin). Officer de l'état civil (Main Author) > > Tables décennales 1793-1862 Naissances 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757357 > > Mariages 1793-1871 FHL INTL Film 757358 > > Décès 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757359 > > Tables décennales 1863-1872 FHL INTL Film 1761948 Item 14 > > Naissances, mariages, décès 1870-1872 FHL INTL Film 1144364 Item 1 > > Naissances, décès 1863-1869 FHL INTL Film 1761433 Item 7 > > Naissances, mariages, décès 1873-1882 FHL INTL Film 1713089 Item 3 > > And here is for the church records: (these records are in German) > > Title Kirchenbuch, 1712-1738 > Authors Evangelische Kirche Koßweiler (Kr. Molsheim) (Main Author) > > Taufen, 1712-1738 -- Heiraten, 1712-1731 -- Tote, 1712-1738 FHL INTL Film > 757356 > > > Note that there appears to be a gap between 1738 and 1793. I am not > familiar with this area so have no idea if records for those years might be > available in the archives in France. Perhaps someone else on the list might > be able to answer that question. > > In case you are unfamiliar with working at the FHL. First decide which film > or films you would like to order. Determine the hours of operation for your > local FHL and stop by and place your order - I think films cost $8 each now. > When the films arrive you will have a set period of weeks to view them. I > think the films can be rental can renewed if you need more time for a fee. > When you find what you are looking for you will be able to print copies of > those records. > > If you are unfamiliar with French and German, the FHL have guides you can > obtain that will help in reading the records. > > As for immigration records - many of us have been unable to locate our > ancestors in these records. In searching for your ancestors you must > consider alternate spellings. You might try locating your great > grandfather's naturalization papers if he did get naturalized. There is > usually information there that may help pinpoint more closely when he > immigrated. Occasionally there is listed the name of the ship or the date > he arrived. > > I hope this helps. Good luck! > > Linda > in Costa Rica > Monroe County, NY Records and Family Genealogy > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monroenys/ > Monroe County, NY History > http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monroenys/ > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Marilyn Potthast > To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Sent: Monday, 15 September, 2008 11:47 AM > Subject: ***SPAM*** Re: [A-L] Holle > > > My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in > Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr > grandfathers > birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I > also > can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The > Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone > can > help me would be appreciated. > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature > database 3443 (20080915) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature > database 3443 (20080915) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Christopher, you are about the fourth person this week asking almost the identical question. So I'm answering *you* and anyone else who is just starting to research in this rich area of France. For all European research, you must have a village name, or at least a small region with a few villages, because that is where all the records are kept! There are few to no departement, county or region-wide censuses or other general surveys such as our US Census records. So, you must do your American or Canadian research, before trying to "jump the pond" back to Europe. Have you found the naturalization applications? Often the first and second application contain much more detail than the final certificate. How about obituaries, in particular those published in small local newspapers, church publications, or German or French newspapers? Many of the old newspapers are available on microfilm. For lots of ideas of how to go about this, see: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html I hope this is helpful. Valorie On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 3:06 PM, <Celvampire@aol.com> wrote: > To whom it may concern, my name is Christopher Ludwig. Wondering if you > could assist me. I'm presently doing research for my family history and I've > become stuck. I'm looking for info on Louis Schwartz. Born Feb 2nd 1854. This is > when France still controlled Alsace Lorraine. I don't know the name of the > town/city where he was born or know his parents names. Just the region, his > first and last name and date of birth. According to Us Census records he arrived > in the United States in 1860. So I'm defenitely looking for a birth record > or baptism record. Any help you could offer, or any ideas when I may inquire > with this kinda search would be most welcoming. Thank you. > > Christopher E. Ludwig -- Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507013560 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valoriez MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/valoriez Genealogy Blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ All my pages: http://valorie.zimmerman.googlepages.com

La Mairie : En 1610, les habitants de la commune ont construit notre Mairie « La Halle », financée par les Princes de Nassau. Fierté du village par son allure dominante, ce magnifique édifice renaissance faisait office de tribunal seigneurial, de prison et de marché aux grains. Inscrit aux monuments historiques, il fait office, de nos jours, de mairie. http://www.info-ab.com/liens.asp?commune=79&canton=22&pro=416 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charlie" <csherida@tampabay.rr.com> To: <alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 9:14 PM Subject: [A-L] HOLLE Suname and Village Resolved > Hi - > > Mary Ann, who was looking for her HOLLE family, had sufficient information > to help her find her ancestors in the village of Mothern. She had the > names > of 2 of her ancestors, their dates of birth and marriage. > > Using the AGAWE website http://www.agawe-genealogie.com/indexe.htm we were > able to determine that the family surnames HOLLE and KNAUB were both > listed > in the extracted Mothern marriage book published by AGAWE. Members of > AGAWE > were kind enough to do a check and sent her the extracted Marriage info > along with other HOLLE marriages. It is now in the hands of Mary Ann to > follow through and locate the rest of her Alsatian lines. > > This website is for Bas-Rhin and only includes certain areas. Check the > site to determine if a book or books have been published for your > village(s). Their village extractions and publishing of their findings is > an > on-going project. The work is very demanding and time consuming. > > Needle in the haystack was found. Let's hope that those of you who are > still looking for that elusive village are as fortunate. > > Charlie > Homosassa, FL > > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi - Mary Ann, who was looking for her HOLLE family, had sufficient information to help her find her ancestors in the village of Mothern. She had the names of 2 of her ancestors, their dates of birth and marriage. Using the AGAWE website http://www.agawe-genealogie.com/indexe.htm we were able to determine that the family surnames HOLLE and KNAUB were both listed in the extracted Mothern marriage book published by AGAWE. Members of AGAWE were kind enough to do a check and sent her the extracted Marriage info along with other HOLLE marriages. It is now in the hands of Mary Ann to follow through and locate the rest of her Alsatian lines. This website is for Bas-Rhin and only includes certain areas. Check the site to determine if a book or books have been published for your village(s). Their village extractions and publishing of their findings is an on-going project. The work is very demanding and time consuming. Needle in the haystack was found. Let's hope that those of you who are still looking for that elusive village are as fortunate. Charlie Homosassa, FL

To whom it may concern, my name is Christopher Ludwig. Wondering if you could assist me. I'm presently doing research for my family history and I've become stuck. I'm looking for info on Louis Schwartz. Born Feb 2nd 1854. This is when France still controlled Alsace Lorraine. I don't know the name of the town/city where he was born or know his parents names. Just the region, his first and last name and date of birth. According to Us Census records he arrived in the United States in 1860. So I'm defenitely looking for a birth record or baptism record. Any help you could offer, or any ideas when I may inquire with this kinda search would be most welcoming. Thank you. Christopher E. Ludwig **************Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com. (http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014)

Another thing Marilyn If You send in the FULL NAME , and VITAL DATES , maybe someone could find an online record of Your G.Grandfather. Karl Roussin ============================================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marilyn Potthast" <omaandopa06@att.net> To: <alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 12:47 PM Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in > Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr > grandfathers > birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I > also > can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The > Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone > can > help me would be appreciated. > > -----Original Message----- > From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Valorie > Zimmerman > Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 4:12 AM > To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > > Hi Mary Ann, and welcome to the wonderful world of A-L research. For > all European research, you must have a village name, or at least a > small region with a few villages, because that is where all the > records are kept! There are few to no departement, county or > region-wide censuses or other general surveys such as our US Census > records. So, you must do your American or Canadian research, before > trying to "jump the pond" back to Europe. > > Have you found the naturalization applications? Often the first and > second application contain much more detail than the final > certificate. How about obituaries, in particular those published in > small local newspapers, church publications, or German or French > newspapers? Many of the old newspapers are available on microfilm. > > For lots of ideas of how to go about this, see: > http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html > > I hope this is helpful. > > Valorie > > > On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 8:01 AM, Mary Ann Webb <conansmom@att.net> wrote: >> Hello! >> >> My great grandparents emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine to the USA in 1888. >> I > know their birthdates and know they were married in 1886 however I do not > know what city they were from or other family members names ie their > parents, siblings, etc. Do you have any suggestions on how I can obtain > this > information? >> >> Thank you! > -- > Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507013560 > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valoriez > MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/valoriez > Genealogy Blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ > All my pages: http://valorie.zimmerman.googlepages.com > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus > signature > database 3440 (20080913) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus > signature > database 3443 (20080915) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Marilyn To find out more records of Your G.Grandfather , and You know the town that He came from. Check out some microfilms from the FHC library Karl Roussin ============================================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marilyn Potthast" <omaandopa06@att.net> To: <alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 12:47 PM Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in > Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr > grandfathers > birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I > also > can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The > Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone > can > help me would be appreciated. > > -----Original Message----- > From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Valorie > Zimmerman > Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 4:12 AM > To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > > Hi Mary Ann, and welcome to the wonderful world of A-L research. For > all European research, you must have a village name, or at least a > small region with a few villages, because that is where all the > records are kept! There are few to no departement, county or > region-wide censuses or other general surveys such as our US Census > records. So, you must do your American or Canadian research, before > trying to "jump the pond" back to Europe. > > Have you found the naturalization applications? Often the first and > second application contain much more detail than the final > certificate. How about obituaries, in particular those published in > small local newspapers, church publications, or German or French > newspapers? Many of the old newspapers are available on microfilm. > > For lots of ideas of how to go about this, see: > http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html > > I hope this is helpful. > > Valorie > > > On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 8:01 AM, Mary Ann Webb <conansmom@att.net> wrote: >> Hello! >> >> My great grandparents emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine to the USA in 1888. >> I > know their birthdates and know they were married in 1886 however I do not > know what city they were from or other family members names ie their > parents, siblings, etc. Do you have any suggestions on how I can obtain > this > information? >> >> Thank you! > -- > Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507013560 > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valoriez > MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/valoriez > Genealogy Blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ > All my pages: http://valorie.zimmerman.googlepages.com > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus > signature > database 3440 (20080913) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus > signature > database 3443 (20080915) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

>Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:47:09 -0400 >From: "Marilyn Potthast" <omaandopa06@att.net> >Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr grandfathers birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I also can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone can help me would be appreciated. Hi Marilyn, You've had good responses about starting to research your family in Cosswiller; I hope you'll pay attention to all of the suggestions. To go along with the "serious" research, here are some fun things to do. Try a google search for <Cosswiller> (my Michelin 1cm:200000 km atlas-453 pages gives only ONE by that spelling; hurrah!!!) You'll find "about 120,000 English and French and German pages for Cosswiller". Then click on google's "Images" in upper left corner of the search page. There are "about 594" images dealing with Cosswiller: the village, the houses, the church, maps, etc. Having checked out Robert Behra's Alsace Communities A-Z (link posted by Charlie Sheridan earlier today) which is now hosted by Rootsweb, you noted that when Cosswiller was under German rule, its name was Koßweiler (Kossweiler). You can also google that. You'll find an additional 75 webpages dealing with the village when it was Germanic. Keep your eyes open as you peruse those 120 thousand websites, for a locally "grown" genealogy website for Cosswiller. You may be as lucky as we descendants of residents in the Alsace village of Weiterswiller (aka: Weitersweiler.) If you'd like to see what CAN be found online, check out this website: <http://pagesperso-orange.fr/f.s.weiters/SiteWeiters/accueil.html> and take a look at the "Généalogie" links at left. WOW! Not only transcribed parish records; civil registration (1793-1872); censuses from 1836/41/46/51/56/61/66; and Jewish records...but ALSO the notarial records of M. Dieterich (1804-1830) and M. Klipfel (the first two years of 1830-1839!) You did not include any personal information (name, dob, spouse, children, location in the US) on your immigrant from Cosswiller, Marilyn; so none of us can comment specifically on your family after immigration. Good luck, Marilyn, in finding your own treasures online as well as via LDS and other sources. Cari Thomas <western37@cox.net>

That you for the input. Will go to LDS and hope they can help me as I do not know either language. I do know someone who knows German but would have to have her with me while looking at the records. -----Original Message----- From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Linda H. Gutierrez Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 2:55 PM To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle Hi Marilyn, Well since you have the town name your next step would be to go to your local FHL and order the films for that area so that you can find more information about your great grandfather and his family. Since you have his birth record, you should also have the names of his parents. So first you would probably want to locate their records, birth and marriage. You can also inspect the birth records for siblings. This is done by looking for any records with the names of both parents. Once you have your grandfather's generation and parents well documented you can go back another generation, etc. Here is a listing for the civil records for Cosswiller: (these records will be in French and German) Title Registres de l'état civil, 1793-1882 Authors Cosswiller (Bas-Rhin). Officer de l'état civil (Main Author) Tables décennales 1793-1862 Naissances 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757357 Mariages 1793-1871 FHL INTL Film 757358 Décès 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757359 Tables décennales 1863-1872 FHL INTL Film 1761948 Item 14 Naissances, mariages, décès 1870-1872 FHL INTL Film 1144364 Item 1 Naissances, décès 1863-1869 FHL INTL Film 1761433 Item 7 Naissances, mariages, décès 1873-1882 FHL INTL Film 1713089 Item 3 And here is for the church records: (these records are in German) Title Kirchenbuch, 1712-1738 Authors Evangelische Kirche Koßweiler (Kr. Molsheim) (Main Author) Taufen, 1712-1738 -- Heiraten, 1712-1731 -- Tote, 1712-1738 FHL INTL Film 757356 Note that there appears to be a gap between 1738 and 1793. I am not familiar with this area so have no idea if records for those years might be available in the archives in France. Perhaps someone else on the list might be able to answer that question. In case you are unfamiliar with working at the FHL. First decide which film or films you would like to order. Determine the hours of operation for your local FHL and stop by and place your order - I think films cost $8 each now. When the films arrive you will have a set period of weeks to view them. I think the films can be rental can renewed if you need more time for a fee. When you find what you are looking for you will be able to print copies of those records. If you are unfamiliar with French and German, the FHL have guides you can obtain that will help in reading the records. As for immigration records - many of us have been unable to locate our ancestors in these records. In searching for your ancestors you must consider alternate spellings. You might try locating your great grandfather's naturalization papers if he did get naturalized. There is usually information there that may help pinpoint more closely when he immigrated. Occasionally there is listed the name of the ship or the date he arrived. I hope this helps. Good luck! Linda in Costa Rica Monroe County, NY Records and Family Genealogy http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monroenys/ Monroe County, NY History http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monroenys/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Marilyn Potthast To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, 15 September, 2008 11:47 AM Subject: ***SPAM*** Re: [A-L] Holle My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr grandfathers birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I also can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone can help me would be appreciated. -- Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3443 (20080915) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3443 (20080915) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com

Hi Marilyn, You are one of the fortunate researchers having the name of a village. This website will give you a couple of answers. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fraalsac/alsaceaz/alsacec.htm#cosswiller Next go to http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp and then to Search records (top left) and to Library catalog on the drop down menu. When that site comes up click on Place Search and enter the name of your village. It will bring up the available films for Cosswiller. Always click on VIEW FILM NOTES in the top right hand corner. Church documents for the Protestant church - all written in German. Since Cosswiller was mainly Protestant and if your family was Catholic you might want to check a map to see where the next village is located. That might be the church where your ancestors attended services. Note Location Film Taufen, 1712-1738 -- Heiraten, 1712-1731 -- Tote, 1712-1738 FHL INTL Film 757356; Civil records: Tables décennales 1793-1862 Naissances 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757357 Mariages 1793-1871 FHL INTL Film 757358 Décès 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757359 Tables décennales 1863-1872 FHL INTL Film 1761948 Item 14 Naissances, mariages, décès 1870-1872 FHL INTL Film 1144364 Item 1 Naissances, décès 1863-1869 FHL INTL Film 1761433 Item 7 Naissances, mariages, décès 1873-1882 FHL INTL Film 1713089 Item 3 You can determine where there's a Family History Center near you and go there to order the films you need. Guess on languages is: 1793-1806 and 1871-1882 will be in German and the other documents 1806-1871 will be written in French. You can also do others searches at LDS site. If you need any additional information please contact me directly. Good Luck Charlie csherida@tampabay.rr.com

My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr grandfathers birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I also can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone can help me would be appreciated. -----Original Message----- From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Valorie Zimmerman Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 4:12 AM To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle Hi Mary Ann, and welcome to the wonderful world of A-L research. For all European research, you must have a village name, or at least a small region with a few villages, because that is where all the records are kept! There are few to no departement, county or region-wide censuses or other general surveys such as our US Census records. So, you must do your American or Canadian research, before trying to "jump the pond" back to Europe. Have you found the naturalization applications? Often the first and second application contain much more detail than the final certificate. How about obituaries, in particular those published in small local newspapers, church publications, or German or French newspapers? Many of the old newspapers are available on microfilm. For lots of ideas of how to go about this, see: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html I hope this is helpful. Valorie On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 8:01 AM, Mary Ann Webb <conansmom@att.net> wrote: > Hello! > > My great grandparents emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine to the USA in 1888. I know their birthdates and know they were married in 1886 however I do not know what city they were from or other family members names ie their parents, siblings, etc. Do you have any suggestions on how I can obtain this information? > > Thank you! -- Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507013560 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valoriez MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/valoriez Genealogy Blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ All my pages: http://valorie.zimmerman.googlepages.com -- Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3440 (20080913) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3443 (20080915) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com

How wonderful that you have a village name! Your next stop is to FamilySearch.org, to find out what has been filmed for your village. See http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/make-family-history-library-catalog.html for a tutorial, step by step, on how to find the films you need. If you don't know where your closest FHC is, click the link at the end for the list of locations. All the best, Valorie On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 10:47 AM, Marilyn Potthast <omaandopa06@att.net> wrote: > My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in > Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr grandfathers > birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I also > can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The > Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone can > help me would be appreciated. > > -----Original Message----- > From: alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:alsace-lorraine-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Valorie Zimmerman > Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 4:12 AM > To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [A-L] Holle > > Hi Mary Ann, and welcome to the wonderful world of A-L research. For > all European research, you must have a village name, or at least a > small region with a few villages, because that is where all the > records are kept! There are few to no departement, county or > region-wide censuses or other general surveys such as our US Census > records. So, you must do your American or Canadian research, before > trying to "jump the pond" back to Europe. > > Have you found the naturalization applications? Often the first and > second application contain much more detail than the final > certificate. How about obituaries, in particular those published in > small local newspapers, church publications, or German or French > newspapers? Many of the old newspapers are available on microfilm. > > For lots of ideas of how to go about this, see: > http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html > > I hope this is helpful. > > Valorie ::snip:: -- Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507013560 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valoriez MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/valoriez Genealogy Blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ All my pages: http://valorie.zimmerman.googlepages.com

Sharon, There are innumerable ways to try to track your great-grandfather's roots, some of which Brian suggests - time consuming and maybe unsuccessful but you might be surprised. There were and probably are Eberhards in Alsace. Salmgach, Niederlauterbach - Bas Rhin (deptartment number 67). Where in Michigan did he settle? What was his occupation? Neighbors? Where were they from? How old was Paul when he arrived? What was his church affiliation? Protestant (Lutheran?); Catholic? These were strongest in Alsace, but also Mennonite When did he die? Can you get an obituary? My gg grandmother came to the US from Alsace in 1854 and her obit actually gave the name of her birth village. Family lore may be unreliable but there are always reasons for it and gives clues that should be followed up. And while the two wars may have had some influence on German background (country, name, language) cover-ups, this was not as common as one may assume and often depended on the areas - for example if a town in the US had a significant number of German background people no one paid any attention. Google and google and google! Good luck and enjoy! On Sep 15, 2008, at 12:19 PM, brian@amason.net wrote: > In order to find records for any person you must know the town from > which > they came.. You need to look for records in the US that give this > information. Census data for place of birth is unreliable, as is > family > lore. > > You need to begin your search at home, look for the older family > relatives > who may have first or second hand information. Next look for > immigration > records, family papers (passports, birth records, death records, > photographs, letters, etc.), newspaper articles, church records in > the > US, etc. You must find this information or you are just looking for a > needle in a thousand haystacks. > > Those of German descent have had good reasons in the past to claim > they > were from a German speaking area of France (WWI, WWII, to mention > two). > > Good luck in your search, > Brian > > On Sun, September 14, 2008 9:08 pm, Sharon Bishop wrote: >> Hi All, >> >> I'm looking for information about my Great Grandfather. He was Paul >> Eberhart, and is listed in the US census records, showing a >> birthplace of >> France, and sometimes Germany, depending on the census record. He >> settled >> in Michigan, and married Sophia Schmitter, from Germany, but who >> came to >> the >> US the year before he did. >> >> Family lore has him from Alsace Lorraine. He came to the US in 1854, > > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message

Hi Marilyn, Well since you have the town name your next step would be to go to your local FHL and order the films for that area so that you can find more information about your great grandfather and his family. Since you have his birth record, you should also have the names of his parents. So first you would probably want to locate their records, birth and marriage. You can also inspect the birth records for siblings. This is done by looking for any records with the names of both parents. Once you have your grandfather's generation and parents well documented you can go back another generation, etc. Here is a listing for the civil records for Cosswiller: (these records will be in French and German) Title Registres de l'état civil, 1793-1882 Authors Cosswiller (Bas-Rhin). Officer de l'état civil (Main Author) Tables décennales 1793-1862 Naissances 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757357 Mariages 1793-1871 FHL INTL Film 757358 Décès 1793-1862 FHL INTL Film 757359 Tables décennales 1863-1872 FHL INTL Film 1761948 Item 14 Naissances, mariages, décès 1870-1872 FHL INTL Film 1144364 Item 1 Naissances, décès 1863-1869 FHL INTL Film 1761433 Item 7 Naissances, mariages, décès 1873-1882 FHL INTL Film 1713089 Item 3 And here is for the church records: (these records are in German) Title Kirchenbuch, 1712-1738 Authors Evangelische Kirche Koßweiler (Kr. Molsheim) (Main Author) Taufen, 1712-1738 -- Heiraten, 1712-1731 -- Tote, 1712-1738 FHL INTL Film 757356 Note that there appears to be a gap between 1738 and 1793. I am not familiar with this area so have no idea if records for those years might be available in the archives in France. Perhaps someone else on the list might be able to answer that question. In case you are unfamiliar with working at the FHL. First decide which film or films you would like to order. Determine the hours of operation for your local FHL and stop by and place your order - I think films cost $8 each now. When the films arrive you will have a set period of weeks to view them. I think the films can be rental can renewed if you need more time for a fee. When you find what you are looking for you will be able to print copies of those records. If you are unfamiliar with French and German, the FHL have guides you can obtain that will help in reading the records. As for immigration records - many of us have been unable to locate our ancestors in these records. In searching for your ancestors you must consider alternate spellings. You might try locating your great grandfather's naturalization papers if he did get naturalized. There is usually information there that may help pinpoint more closely when he immigrated. Occasionally there is listed the name of the ship or the date he arrived. I hope this helps. Good luck! Linda in Costa Rica Monroe County, NY Records and Family Genealogy http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monroenys/ Monroe County, NY History http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monroenys/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Marilyn Potthast To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, 15 September, 2008 11:47 AM Subject: ***SPAM*** Re: [A-L] Holle My question to you is even if you have the town where they came from in Alsace-Lorraine who do you get that information. I have my gr grandfathers birth certificate where he was born. How do I go about from there. I also can't find the ship he came over on which was in the late 1850's. The Birth Certificate says Cosswiller. So where do I go from there? Anyone can help me would be appreciated.

Brian wrote: "Online researching can be convenient, but there is no substitute for old-fashioned off-line research." Not said often enough! Few of the vast numbers of records of our ancestors are yet online. And, even when indices are found online, they don't contain the richness of information in the originals. -rt_/)

good advice you have received from others.................I'll add two of my own.... tombstones - my great grandfather and great grandmother had the names of their villages in Elsass carved on their tombstones!? even had her maiden name on there. was he in the Civil War?? if so, he might have applied for a pension -? another great grandfather applied for a pension and evidently had to have a birth certificate.? he wrote to his church in Germany and they sent back a transcript which satisfied the U.S. Government to grant the pension.? that transcript indicated his parents names and occupations.?? what a find!?? we uncovered all this by requesting the Civil War info from the National Archives. happy digging..................Helen -----Original Message----- From: gbishida <gfb-ishida@gol.com> To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Sent: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:18 am Subject: Re: [A-L] Paul Eberhart, born 1831 or 32, Emigrated 1854 to US Sharon, There are innumerable ways to try to track your great-grandfather's roots, some of which Brian suggests - time consuming and maybe unsuccessful but you might be surprised. There were and probably are Eberhards in Alsace. Salmgach, Niederlauterbach - Bas Rhin (deptartment number 67). Where in Michigan did he settle? What was his occupation? Neighbors? Where were they from? How old was Paul when he arrived? What was his church affiliation? Protestant (Lutheran?); Catholic? These were strongest in Alsace, but also Mennonite When did he die? Can you get an obituary? My gg grandmother came to the US from Alsace in 1854 and her obit actually gave the name of her birth village. Family lore may be unreliable but there are always reasons for it and gives clues that should be followed up. And while the two wars may have had some influence on German background (country, name, language) cover-ups, this was not as common as one may assume and often depended on the areas - for example if a town in the US had a significant number of German background people no one paid any attention. Google and google and google! Good luck and enjoy! On Sep 15, 2008, at 12:19 PM, brian@amason.net wrote: > In order to find records for any person you must know the town from > which > they came.. You need to look for records in the US that give this > information. Census data for place of birth is unreliable, as is > family > lore. > > You need to begin your search at home, look for the older family > relatives > who may have first or second hand information. Next look for > immigration > records, family papers (passports, birth records, death records, > photographs, letters, etc.), newspaper articles, church records in > the > US, etc. You must find this information or you are just looking for a > needle in a thousand haystacks. > > Those of German descent have had good reasons in the past to claim > they > were from a German speaking area of France (WWI, WWII, to mention > two). > > Good lu ck in your search, > Brian > > On Sun, September 14, 2008 9:08 pm, Sharon Bishop wrote: >> Hi All, >> >> I'm looking for information about my Great Grandfather. He was Paul >> Eberhart, and is listed in the US census records, showing a >> birthplace of >> France, and sometimes Germany, depending on the census record. He >> settled >> in Michigan, and married Sophia Schmitter, from Germany, but who >> came to >> the >> US the year before he did. >> >> Family lore has him from Alsace Lorraine. He came to the US in 1854, > > > -- > Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message -- Resources for Alsace-Lorraine list members: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALSACE-LORRAINE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

In order to find records for any person you must know the town from which they came.. You need to look for records in the US that give this information. Census data for place of birth is unreliable, as is family lore. You need to begin your search at home, look for the older family relatives who may have first or second hand information. Next look for immigration records, family papers (passports, birth records, death records, photographs, letters, etc.), newspaper articles, church records in the US, etc. You must find this information or you are just looking for a needle in a thousand haystacks. Those of German descent have had good reasons in the past to claim they were from a German speaking area of France (WWI, WWII, to mention two). Good luck in your search, Brian On Sun, September 14, 2008 9:08 pm, Sharon Bishop wrote: > Hi All, > > I'm looking for information about my Great Grandfather. He was Paul > Eberhart, and is listed in the US census records, showing a birthplace of > France, and sometimes Germany, depending on the census record. He settled > in Michigan, and married Sophia Schmitter, from Germany, but who came to > the > US the year before he did. > > Family lore has him from Alsace Lorraine. He came to the US in 1854,

Hi All, I'm looking for information about my Great Grandfather. He was Paul Eberhart, and is listed in the US census records, showing a birthplace of France, and sometimes Germany, depending on the census record. He settled in Michigan, and married Sophia Schmitter, from Germany, but who came to the US the year before he did. Family lore has him from Alsace Lorraine. He came to the US in 1854, according to records here, but I have not any idea how to go about locating a birth certificate, or records from there. Any and All help is appreciated. Sharon Bishop