Valorie, Thanks for the suggestions, but I have tried all that you mentioned except the NYU. I have gone through all the microfilm that the St. Louis Library has to offer. I have checked everything that the National Archives in Washington D. C. and Ancestry on the internet have to offer and have come up with nothing but what I have included in my previous email. I have been looking for these people since I lived in D. C. in the 1980's. All I have is the name France and Germany. Maybe they did not want to be found. I do not even know what year they arrived, a port of entry, or a ship name. I have searched every census that they could have appeared, the cemetery where every other family member is buried does not have them and as for death records all I have is a death year. Since Augusta the daughter was b. in St. Louis in 1861 I know they were here before then, but not how many years before. Their descendants attended the same Catholic church for generations, so I think they were probably Catholic, but that Catholic Church in St. Louis is not giving out information . So, that door is closed. That is why I tried the alsace-lorraine site. Maybe the names were prominent and someone would immediately know what I was looking for. Valorie Zimmerman wrote: > Hi Nancy -- it sounds like you need to do a bit more American > research, before trying to "jump the pond." 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. > > 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 > instance, see the holdings of the NYU: > http://library.nyu.edu/research/german/. These microfilms will often > be available by Inter-Library Loan. Talk to your librarian about local > policies. > > For much more about this subject, see: > > http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html > > All the best, > > Valorie > > PS: My husband has KEISERs in his line also. His people came from > Ostfriesland to Illinois in the 1850s, also by way of New Orleans and > the Mississippi River. More and more of those New Orleans immigration > records are indexed, so be sure to search those. There are a number of > BLATTEAU records at Ancestry, which I can send to you privately if you > don't have access to them. > > > On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 6:51 PM, Nancy Cruse <ncruse@socket.net> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I just joined the group. I live in Hannibal, Missouri, USA. In case >> you are not familiar with Hannibal that is the town that Mark Twain >> wrote about in his stories of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. >> >> I have an ancestor named Charles Fredrick BLATTAU. He married in 5 Oct >> 1847 Anna Christina KAISER. I am not sure if they married in St. Louis, >> Missouri or before they arrived. They had a daughter, Augusta BLATTAU >> who was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1861. In the US census it states >> that Augusta's Father was born in France, but in another source it >> states that he was from Germany. BLATTAU sounds more French than >> German, so I thought maybe the Alsace-Lorraine region might be the >> answer to both since it has been part of both countries at one time or >> another. >> >> I do not know when either Charles or his wife were born, but if I have >> to guess I would say sometime in the late 1820's since they were married >> in 1847. I am also thinking that there were more children before >> Augusta since she was not born until 1861, about 14 years after >> marriage. So, I am also looking for possible children with the name >> BLATTAU being born in the 1850's. >> >> Is BLATTAU a familiar name to anyone doing research in Alsace-Lorraine >> area, or is it still an existing name to anyone that is living there >> right now? >> >> Any help or direction would be appreciated> >> >> Nancy Cruse >> > >

Hi Nancy, Have you checked to see if the LDS has filmed the church records in St. Louis? I know the ones in my area of research (Rochester, NY) were filmed and are available to search. 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: Nancy Cruse To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, 09 October, 2008 12:00 AM Subject: Re: [A-L] Searching BLATTAU Valorie, Thanks for the suggestions, but I have tried all that you mentioned except the NYU. I have gone through all the microfilm that the St. Louis Library has to offer. I have checked everything that the National Archives in Washington D. C. and Ancestry on the internet have to offer and have come up with nothing but what I have included in my previous email. I have been looking for these people since I lived in D. C. in the 1980's. All I have is the name France and Germany. Maybe they did not want to be found. I do not even know what year they arrived, a port of entry, or a ship name. I have searched every census that they could have appeared, the cemetery where every other family member is buried does not have them and as for death records all I have is a death year. Since Augusta the daughter was b. in St. Louis in 1861 I know they were here before then, but not how many years before. Their descendants attended the same Catholic church for generations, so I think they were probably Catholic, but that Catholic Church in St. Louis is not giving out information . So, that door is closed. That is why I tried the alsace-lorraine site. Maybe the names were prominent and someone would immediately know what I was looking for. Valorie Zimmerman wrote: > Hi Nancy -- it sounds like you need to do a bit more American > research, before trying to "jump the pond." 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. > > 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 > instance, see the holdings of the NYU: > http://library.nyu.edu/research/german/. These microfilms will often > be available by Inter-Library Loan. Talk to your librarian about local > policies. > > For much more about this subject, see: > > http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html > > All the best, > > Valorie > > PS: My husband has KEISERs in his line also. His people came from > Ostfriesland to Illinois in the 1850s, also by way of New Orleans and > the Mississippi River. More and more of those New Orleans immigration > records are indexed, so be sure to search those. There are a number of > BLATTEAU records at Ancestry, which I can send to you privately if you > don't have access to them. > > > On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 6:51 PM, Nancy Cruse <ncruse@socket.net> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I just joined the group. I live in Hannibal, Missouri, USA. In case >> you are not familiar with Hannibal that is the town that Mark Twain >> wrote about in his stories of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. >> >> I have an ancestor named Charles Fredrick BLATTAU. He married in 5 Oct >> 1847 Anna Christina KAISER. I am not sure if they married in St. Louis, >> Missouri or before they arrived. They had a daughter, Augusta BLATTAU >> who was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1861. In the US census it states >> that Augusta's Father was born in France, but in another source it >> states that he was from Germany. BLATTAU sounds more French than >> German, so I thought maybe the Alsace-Lorraine region might be the >> answer to both since it has been part of both countries at one time or >> another. >> >> I do not know when either Charles or his wife were born, but if I have >> to guess I would say sometime in the late 1820's since they were married >> in 1847. I am also thinking that there were more children before >> Augusta since she was not born until 1861, about 14 years after >> marriage. So, I am also looking for possible children with the name >> BLATTAU being born in the 1850's. >> >> Is BLATTAU a familiar name to anyone doing research in Alsace-Lorraine >> area, or is it still an existing name to anyone that is living there >> right now? >> >> Any help or direction would be appreciated> >> >> Nancy Cruse >> > > -- 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

Once you have exhausted the most-used record sources, then you have two choices -- go deeper, and go wider. By going deeper, I mean exploring legal, political and land records, which you will find in the FHL catalog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/make-family-history-library-catalog.html I would also contact the St. Louis Genealogy Society, which is very active, and ask their advice. By going wider, I mean investigating ALL relatives, friends, neighbors, fellow immigrants, business associates, church and club members, etc. Once you know your people and their milieu completely, you WILL find the village or at least small area they came from, because you will see the patterns. With a rare surname, you'll really want to do a One Name Study, too. Your surname seems very rare -- I don't find a message board at Rootsweb for it, nor do I find any entries in Linkpendium.com! You might try some of the resources here, since it's so rare: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/surnames.html All the best, Valorie On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 11:00 PM, Nancy Cruse <ncruse@socket.net> wrote: > Valorie, > > Thanks for the suggestions, but I have tried all that you mentioned > except the NYU. I have gone through all the microfilm that the St. > Louis Library has to offer. > I have checked everything that the National Archives in Washington D. C. > and Ancestry on the internet have to offer and have come up with nothing > but what I have included in my previous email. I have been looking for > these people since I lived in D. C. in the 1980's. All I have is the > name France and Germany. Maybe they did not want to be found. I do not > even know what year they arrived, a port of entry, or a ship name. I > have searched every census that they could have appeared, the cemetery > where every other family member is buried does not have them and as for > death records all I have is a death year. > > Since Augusta the daughter was b. in St. Louis in 1861 I know they were > here before then, but not how many years before. Their descendants > attended the same Catholic church for generations, so I think they were > probably Catholic, but that Catholic Church in St. Louis is not giving > out information . So, that door is closed. > > That is why I tried the alsace-lorraine site. Maybe the names were > prominent and someone would immediately know what I was looking for. > > > Valorie Zimmerman wrote: >> Hi Nancy -- it sounds like you need to do a bit more American >> research, before trying to "jump the pond." 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. >> >> 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 >> instance, see the holdings of the NYU: >> http://library.nyu.edu/research/german/. These microfilms will often >> be available by Inter-Library Loan. Talk to your librarian about local >> policies. >> >> For much more about this subject, see: >> >> http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/european-research.html ::snip old:: -- 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