Nicole, It may take courage but once you are in the US, you might try by doing a step by step tracing of names with those you already have, actually calling some people in the DeKalb area who have the same surnames names. I am no longer subscribed to ancestry.com but can still get into basic index; if someone else can help it would be great. Get to the 1930 census using those who might still be alive and see their children listed. Go to yahoo.com People Search or even better, www.whitepages.com where you can see people with the same surnames. Sometimes you can see ages so go for older people. Call or have one of your US relatives give a few a call. The DeKalb Illinois area seems to be the obvious choice. I did a bit of checking and there are Lentz and Schumacher there. The name Weddige seemed more unusual but when I gave it a try the name came up in Chicago and suburbs (I used to live there) but people do move around and DeKalb is not that far away. If you know the families religious affiliation you might also google for churches in DeKalb and write them. I know this sounds confusing but maybe someone who is subscribed to ancestry.com and is in the US (I am not) can help. Good luck and bon voyage. Gloria Ishida

On Thursday 08 May 2008 6:40:12 am gbishida wrote: > Nicole, > > It may take courage but once you are in the US, you might try by doing > a step by step tracing of names with those you already have, actually > calling some people in the DeKalb area who have the same surnames > names. I am no longer subscribed to ancestry.com but can still get > into basic index; if someone else can help it would be great. Get to > the 1930 census using those who might still be alive and see their > children listed. Go to yahoo.com People Search or even better, > www.whitepages.com where you can see people with the same surnames. > Sometimes you can see ages so go for older people. Call or have one of your > US relatives give a few a call. > > The DeKalb Illinois area seems to be the obvious choice. I did a bit > of checking and there are Lentz and Schumacher there. The name Weddige > seemed more unusual but when I gave it a try the name came up in > Chicago and suburbs (I used to live there) but people do move around > and DeKalb is not that far away. > > If you know the families religious affiliation you might also google > for churches in DeKalb and write them. > > I know this sounds confusing but maybe someone who is subscribed to > ancestry.com and is in the US (I am not) can help. > > Good luck and bon voyage. > > Gloria Ishida Thanks for this post, Gloria. It brings to mind one more avenue I could have mentioned in my previous post -- a group of resources I gathered to help people find living relatives: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/finding-living-persons.html All the best, Valorie