<[email protected], Hello, Mark, You did not say in which part of Bavaria your family lived. But in 1986 I received this message from researcher Reinhard Mayer about emigration from Oberfranken. "The emigration records of Muenchberg (Landgericht) which contained birth records, a list of all persons of the emigrating family, affidavits, proof of sufficient money for the journey, port of embarkation, destination in USA if know, etc., are NOT PRESERVED." But he and another researcher found some limited information in the Intelligenzblatt fuer Ueberfranken, 1848. Herr Mayer continued, "The emigrations of Muenchberg county are preserved in the records of Oberfranken district (now in Bamberg Archive), but the proof of emigration just consists of one or two sheets which state that the district administration received the records from Muenchberg county and sent it back later." There are a number of sample German letters online. One of the best places to learn about sending letters overseas and paying the archives or church can be found at <A HREF="http://go.to/Hessen">http://go.to/Hessen</A> Good luck. LaVerne