Well politically Alsace and Lporraine went back and forth between France and Germany.   The Alsatian language has Germanic tones to it.   Often the people in this Black Forest Region did not think so much as being French or German but as being from an area with a lot of Black Forest traditions that crossed the borders.   Families often lived across the borders and there was a lot of trade and economic travel between them as well.   I have seen members of my family from the 1400s on move back and forth several times following economic opportunities.   I think today, we think more in terms of national identity and in the past this was not so much the case as some of those areas were blurred... German dukes owned parts of France,  French nobility had holdings in what today is Germany, it was just more of a loose association of areas for economic or family reasons due to cross border marriages and inheritances.   My family was speaking German and then French and then German and then French depending upon the timeline.   My grandparents were already second generation American but could understand if not speak German yet they wanted me to learn French (go figure).  Seem that their grandparents could speak both and they wanted someone in the family to be able to read and understand letters an things they had and couldn't.    So I agree, back and forth.   This is why I always advise someone researching in east France or Western Germany to check areas in the other country.... sometimes you find your relatives moved there and you may not know why....     love?   economy?   running away from the law or transcription in military?   Many reasons..... Laura >________________________________ > From: "RValois368@aol.com" <RValois368@aol.com> >To: rlboz@att.net; baden-wurttemberg@rootsweb.com >Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 4:30 PM >Subject: Re: [BW] Bower > > > >Gramps also told me - referring to Baden and Alsace--"back and forth, back and forth". >  >An ancestor did come from Strasbourg, but no evidence of repeated returns has been found nor any reason for it. >  >Robert A. Valois >  >In a message dated 2/16/2014 5:19:39 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, rlboz@att.net writes: >I think this is fairly common because it is a large enough area that people may have heard of it...    >> >>The same thing happened in my family and my folks were from Appenweier and Rottingen so I think they picked the closest big town >> >>I live in St. Louis unincorporated County but the closest known place is Fenton so I often say I live in Fenton (we do have a Fenton post office address) so I wonder if our ancestors did similar things.... >> >> >> >>>________________________________ >>> From: "RValois368@aol.com" <RValois368@aol.com> >>>To: baden-wurttemberg@rootsweb.com >>>Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 4:11 PM >>>Subject: Re: [BW] Bower >>> >>> >>>Funny this story about our ancestors emigrating from  "Baden-Baden". My >>>grandfather told me that too. But they came from Rastatt,  Baden, about 15 >>>miles away, never were they from Baden-Baden. >>> >>>Robert A. Valois  >>> >>> >>>In a message dated 2/16/2014 3:13:04 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  >>>erlast@t-online.de writes: >>> >>>Search  for  B a u e r  not Bower. Bauer is  german. >>> >>>Erika >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>-----Ursprüngliche  Nachricht----- >>>Von:  baden-wurttemberg-bounces@rootsweb.com >>>[mailto:baden-wurttemberg-bounces@rootsweb.com]  Im Auftrag von Norma Beil >>>Gesendet: Samstag, 15. Februar 2014 20:23 >>>An:  BADEN-WURTTEMBERG@rootsweb.com >>>Betreff: [BW] Bower >>> >>>Does anyone have  a connection with Benedick or Benedict Bower born 1783 >>>and who emigrated  from Baden Baden Germany with his family in 1833 to >>>the USA? His wife's  name was Elizabeth Kell and the children were >>>Joseph,  Helen, Thomas,  Genevieve, and Teresa.  I believe Benedick's >>>parents were Josephi  Bower and Mariea Eggs. >>>Norma >>> >>>------------------------------- >>>To unsubscribe from the list,  please send an email to >>>BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with the  word 'unsubscribe' without >>>the quotes in the subject and the body of the  message >>> >>> >>> >>>------------------------------- >>>To unsubscribe from  the list, please send an email to >>>BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with  the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the >>>subject and the body of the  message >>> >>> >>>------------------------------- >>>To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >>> >>> >> >>------------------------------- >>To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >