I have the same problem with my BELLMEYER ancestors. There are a hundred ways of spelling it. As of yet we do not have the original spelling. Ron **************New year...new news. Be the first to know what is making headlines. (http://news.aol.com?ncid=emlcntusnews00000002)

Hi......... "B" and "P" were interchangeable in earlier German speech. One region might spell it Bellmaier, another Pellmaier, or there may have been only one "l". "Maier" indicates a person of authority, in addition to something like that of a local "Mayor". He was the senior person in charge of more than one location, property, estate, farm, or the senior farmer in the vicinity. One finds it spelled "Me" in northern and parts of central Germany, and with "Ma" in southern portions. In earlier centuries the population was more stable as to location --- even after wars and civil uprisings, they tended to return "home" or exit, stage left, to the USA and other points. You can research name origins at my webpage, http://members.cox.net/hessen/telephones.htm Just keep scrolling down the page. It'll jump out at you. Another word for Maier was Schulte, which more closely resembles a local mayor. I wouldn't overlook the possibility of a village named "Bell", with a "Maier", in the area you are researching. I wouldn't exclude a village named "Pell", or Bellmeyer or Pellmeyer, either. Check out the old http://familysearch.org, and the NEW site under development, http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=familysearch.org-search+pilot&rlz=1W1GDNA_en&aq=7&oq=familysearch. :-) Don ----- Original Message ----- From: <VistaRon96@aol.com> To: <baden-wurttemberg@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 2:21 PM Subject: Re: [BW] Maier? I have the same problem with my BELLMEYER ancestors. There are a hundred ways of spelling it. As of yet we do not have the original spelling.