Robert Thanks for the response. Please forgive my structure and mistakes in construction of some of the terminology. I do speak French or German. I am trying to use the little Spanish and Latin I know to get through this. This is my last branch of the family to research before 1800. All others are back to at least 1700 and some much further. So I am stumbling through this. First, the records I have been looking at were Naissances 1823-1853, Naissances 1851-1853 and Naissances 1877-1882. All for Haut-Rhin. I assume this means births. I found some Kirchhoffs but not the ones I'm looking for. I should point out what information I have. All taken from death certificates and mortuary burial files. Joseph Kirchhoff was a carpenter born 30 Mar 1851. His father was named Michel or Michael. He married Mary Ellinger (Elhinger) born 9 feb 1848 to H Ellinger and Mary Meyer (spelling could have been Myer, Meier) They had three children who were born in Alsace-Lorraine: Della (b: Abt 1876), Mary (b 31 Oct 1877) and Elizabeth (b 30 Apr 1879). They were in the US by 24 nov 1881 because they had an infant son die in St Louis on that day. There are 4 stories which shed some further light, potentially. 1. Joseph preceded his family to America and sent money home for their travel. If the birth dates are correct he left for the US after August 1, 1878. I can't find him in the 1880 census. 2. When he raised enough money he sent it to his wife. She is reported to have retrieved it from the back and wass going to carry it home in her apron, but the Banker was concerned for her safety so he accompanied her to her home with the money. I am not sure whether this means they were in a small town or not. 3. There were supposed to be three brothers who were carpenters who built houses together. One burnd down because of faulty construction and the brothers broke up their company. This means that there were brothers to Joseph. 4. Mary reportedly attended a school where French language was used for half a day and German for the other. I pass this information along in case you stumble onto something of interest. I definitely will take your advice on the records. This gives me a little better focus. Steve On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 1:54 PM, <robtbehra@aol.com> wrote: > -----Original Message----- > From: STEVE CLAGGETT <stevecla@dishmail.net> > To: alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com > Sent: Tue, 6 May 2008 8:50 pm > Subject: Re: [A-L] Trip to Alsace, Lorraine and Saarland (long message) > > I looked at today's phone directory and > the concentration of Kirchhoff's seemed to be in the Haut-Rhin Department > especially from Comar to Mulhouse. Mine immigrated to the US in about > 1880 > although the husband Joseph came a couple of years earlier to earn money > for > the families passage. I am looking through LDS records looking for them > but > haven't yet done any good. Also any pointers would be appreciated. > > > Steve, > > As you will have seen from consulting the online telephone directories and > from Ewald's list of Kirchhoff emigrants from the département du Haut-Rhin, > Morschwiller-le-Bas seems to be ground zero for the family. You get the > same impression from doing a search at www.geopatronyme.com (the earliest > period covered by that database is 1891-1914). > > When you say you're looking at LDS records what do you mean? The first > thing I would recommend, if you haven't already done it, would be to order > the civil records for Morschwiller-le-Bas, which cover the period > 1792-1882. Depending on what information you have on your Joseph and his > family from American records, it shouldn't take you long to determine > whether or not they were from that town. Even if their children don't show > up in the birth records, he could still be from there. In that case you > might be able to track him down by looking at the marriage banns > ("publications de mariage"), because French law required the banns to be > read in the town(s) in which the prospective bride and groom legally > resided, even if they ended up getting married somewhere else (the bride's > home town, for example). Unfortunately, according the record in the Family > History Library Catalog, the banns for Morschwiller-le-Bas are only > available for 1821-1852 and 1870-1872. > > Good luck with the hunt. > > Robert Behra > -- > 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