Records of the naturalization of my ancestor in 1849 show that he was from Bavaria. Subsequently, I learned that the name of his village was Birkenhoerdt, which is roughly half way between a straight line from Saarbruecken and Karlsruehe, altho slightly north of it. The geoserver says that it is in the Rheinhessen-Pfalz. So does that mean that it's in the Pfalz nowadays, no longer in Bavaria?...And I've never heard of Rheinhessen-Pfalz, only Rheinland-Pfalz. I take it that these are two different entitites? Can someone tell me where I should write to find records of births or baptisms of those from Birkenhoerdt (I guess it would be the same for Bollenborn which is less than a mile away?). My ggmo was Lutheran in the US, but I don't know what religion her father was in Germany; so it'd be good to have addresses for both Catholic and Evangelische archives. Thanks in advance. Jane in AZ thaia@goodnet.com