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.

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