Howard, My home area is western Pennsylvania. As you go back through the history of my county it was originally claimed to be part of the Virginia Colony. Records of early settlers of much of western Pennsylvania are in the Virginia records. After which it was part of other counties before the current boundaries. Other counties have a similar history. You mentioned the towns around Wadgassen. Do you have the ortssippenbucher that have been published for that area? (3 volumes by Josef Burg and Otto Treinen) Also the one for Großrosseln and Kleinrosseln (Petite Rosselle) (1 volume by Josef Schwarz) where some of the people moved. I have both. I see a Nikolaus KUHN, a zimmermann from Schaffhausen, m. Margarethe SCHUSTER with 3 children. At 02:00 AM 2/11/2008, you wrote: >From: Howard Kuhn <hkuhn38@yahoo.com> >Subject: [A-L] Same family, same community--but changing borders, > changing countries of origin >To: Roots Web interest group Alsace Lorraine > <alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com> > >It is not always easy to identity and properly >record the country of origin for our >ancestors?especially when they are born near the >sometimes fluid borders of a country.. > > My great grandfather Nikolaus was born in a > village near Wadgassen, in what is today the > German state of Saarland?but in the > not-too-distant past I believe Wadgassen was > considered part of Alsace. We have traced > Nikolaus?s progenitors to the 16th century, > with much help from a generous, living German > relative. The ancestors of Nikolaus nearly all > originated in a half dozen villages surrounding > Wadgassen?Friedrichsweiler, Differten, > Hostenbach, Werbeln, Schaffhausen, Ludweiler, and others. >... > Americans face the same problem when > ancestors originate in Fayette County, > Virginia?prior to the Civil War?and later > ancestors originate in Fayette County, West > Virginia?and all are born in the same community > of Fayetteville. And we face the same problem > for families with some ancestors who were born > in the Dakota Territory, and the somewhat later > descendants who may have been born in the same > community which later becomes a city in North > Dakota. When we create our genealogical > records, do we have to do the same manipulation > of geographical names in these cases, too? > > I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter. > Howard Kuhn, hkuhn38@yahoo.com