My gggrandfather Wolfgang Johannes ADELHOCH was born 10 June 1784 at Refthal, Oberpfalz, Bayern, according to information that I have received. I am unable to locate "Refthal" using Mapquest, geo@genealogy.net or maps@microsoft.com. Is this a geographical area rather than a town? My earliest known ancestors come from Samberg or Sänberg in the Oberpfalz. Are these 2 spellings variations of the same place? Neither is in geo@genealogy.net or maps@microsoft.com, but Samberg is shown in Mapquest. His son Jakob, my ggrandfather, born 7 July 1818 and his surname is spelled ADLHOCH, as are his descendants through my line (Georg born 1857 and Peter born 1898). In my experience, the spelling of this surname has been butchered unbelievably by people in all walks of life (I have collected 167 different misspellings in the past 25 years!). I have recently discovered - in North America only - some ADLHOCK and ADELHOCK surnames. Does anyone know whether these are corruptions of the versions ending in 'H'? Recently I also made the acquaintance of an ADLHOCH from Quebec who claimed that the surname HADLOCK originated in the eastern townships of Quebec because this was the phonetic spelling of the common pronunciation of ADLHOCH. Does anyone have any information on this? Again, this surname is very common in the US (over 200 phone listings) while there are only 3 in Germany. Any information on these surnames or HOFWEBER (also from Bavaria) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Tom Adlhoch adlhoch@interlog.com