Cindy, I see you have good answers for some of your questions so I'll try to fill in the gaps. (Note: I wrote this earlier before I saw Carla Heller's post who appears to have adequately filled in the gaps already. Nevertheless, since this is already written, I'm sending it anyway since there might be a tidbit of use to someone on the list.) You: On census records 1860 on they are listed as Bower, but the ship's passenger list (Brig Herschel) out of Bremen, Germany lists them all as Bauer arriving in Galveston, Texas 1/24/1850. Did they Americanize the name themselves? Me: It was the ship's crew's responsibility to fill out the arriving passengers list. Out of Bremen the crew spoke/read/wrote German so you usually get a better home-country rendition of the names. There still were variations due to acceptable alternate spellings for various sounds and less standardization of surnames than today. For Bauer, however, you pretty much get one spelling in Germany which was BAUER. Today it's the 13th most common name in the phone book and was at least that common in your time frame. It is found in every county in modern Germany with concentrations in the southwest and southeast (which is more or less meaningless because of its high incidence everywhere). See modern distribution map for Bauer at http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/MapGateway.aspx?name=Bauer&target=DE&renderer=EN_US&mode=abs Relative distribution shows the south supersaturated. See http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/MapGateway.aspx?name=Bauer&target=DE&renderer=EN_US&mode=rel Based on modern distribution of the name, I'd say that there is a 60% chance you'll find their roots in the modern states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria. See http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/v3/Map.ashx?name=Bauer&target=DE&renderer=EN_US&mode=stat This last concept is interesting but about as useful to you as saying that you are 99% likely to find your Bower/Bauer family's roots in Germany. You can generate your own surname maps/charts from surnames you chose at http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx If you heard a German say Bauer, unless you have studied German you would write Bower in English. The pronunciation of the first syllable (Bau) is the same in English and German--bow as in leaning forward from the waist up not the funny little tie or gift adornment. The second/last syllable (er) is pronounced like English word air, not like the ur that Americans would tend to say. Who Americanized the name? My question now. Was it Americanized? Does your husband's family spell their surname Bower? If so, the family itself changed it. If, on the other hand, the only time you see the Bower spelling is on old documents such as the census, then the enumerator/official was not a German speaker and he/she spelled the name without asking the respondent for the proper spelling. He spelled it like his American ears heard it. If the family changed the spelling, they most likely did so because Americans misspronounced it when they saw Bauer or they misspelled it as Bower when they heard it and they got tired of correcting them. Mostly, they wanted to fit in in their new country. You: On various census reports, Westenberg, Badin and Germany are listed as well as something that appears to be Domstat. Me: Westenberg is most likely an incorrect transciption of Wurtenberg/Wirtenberg/Wertenberg (typical American guesses for the spelling of Wuerttemberg). Badin is most likely an American enumerator's spelling for Baden. Both Baden and Wuerttemberg were considered separate countries until 1871 and technically until later than that so country of origin would indeed elicite Baden or Wuerttemberg as responses in the pre-WW I era and especially in the pre-German Empire era (1871 through WW I). Why did they (Westenberg/Wuerttemberg and Badin/Baden) show up on various successive census? This pair of responses is a little unusual but not unlikely. They are next to each other and some areas on the border changed hands. Also, it depended on what the respondent's perception of how the asking person will react to the answer. A large percentage of German immigrants gave Prussia as their country of origin in the 1870 Census even though they had stated Baden or Wuerttemberg or Hessen or something else in the 1850 and/or the 1860 and even the 1880. Why? Because Prussia led most German states (countries) in the Franco-Prussian War [against France, of course] and so most Americans considered what we now call Germany to be Prussia. So, they told their questioners what they thought they would understand. Because of newspaper headlines about the war, most Americans knew Prussia but might not have known what Wuerttemberg was. Other reasons to change the location of your origin nation is because major areas came under the control of a different entity. I had the dickens of a time trying to get one woman to stop looking in Prussia (i.e. Eastern Germnay) for a name that was clearly from near the Dutch border based on previous census statements and other family documents. She was rivited on Prussia because of a few documents that correctly stated Prussia during the time when Prussia did control the Palatinate. But, most records about the family would only be found in their hometown in western Germany or in an area repository, not in far off Berlin. Re Domstat. You may have gotten really lucky here. You occasionally see the enumerator writing down a city. I suspect this is because he/she had no idea that the respondent was giving him more information (or more detailed information) than he/she had requested. He assumed it was a country he had never heard of (and maybe that all the neighbors were also giving as the answer) and so he wrote the city intead of or along with the country of origin. I strongly suggest you scan that entry and ask which members of this list would like to take a stab at transcribing it. You've gotten some good guesses based on your transcription. You might get a better transcription from a member here and reduce the uncertainty of the answer. This could be your big breakthrough. Going from the 13th most common surname to a surname and a specific city (or area around a city) is a big improvement. You've also got given names (most likely their second given names since most used the second one as their called name) and approx birth years. You could well be on your way to genealogy nirvana. You: Can I confirm that I'm on the right track? I noticed that the northern Wurttemberg immigrants seemed to depart from La Havre, France. Which would be more normal a France or Bremen in northern Germany? Me: 1700's emigrants usually traveled down the Rhine River or along the Baltic into the north sea/Atlantic and departed from Rotterdam with a stop in England (typically the island of Cowes) to clear British customs (remember the colonies were Brithish back then). If they stopped in England, they didn't even get off the ship, just a place to get their noses counted. In the 1800's the main ports became Bremen and Le Havre. The fact that they came via Bremen might suggest they did everything legally, i.e. they registered to leave which means we might be able to find them in an emigration database. Le Havre does suggest a western Germany origin but Bremen does not preclude western Germany. You: I have absolutely no experience tracing into a foreign country. Me: That's why most of us are members of this list. Most of us (including me) started out knowing little about how to go about looking in Germany. We've stayed because of the willingness to help others with what we learn is so amazing. And fortunately, most are not as long-winded as I am. Welcome and good hunting. Paul in Oregon