Gail, I believe you read the gravestone correctly. But gravestones are not known for their great accuracy. They are carved many years after the person's birth, written by others, and spelled as best they could remember. When you get home, look over the list of all Bavarian towns that begin with "O" at http://bavariangenealogy.com/bh/orteo.htm . Go down the list to find which is likely yours. You will see only four towns starting with "Oben". They are Obenbrunn G Gunzenhausen Obending G Tann Obenhausen G Buch Obenhub G Reut [The "G Xxxx" stands for 'Gemeinde Xxxx", which is the larger town nearby that provides government services for the first-named village.] A search for "look-alike" town names, using "Obe*burg" as the model, yields only Obergünzburg and Obernburg. Searching with "Obe*berg" gives more, but none close to "Obenberg". The best candidate seems to be: Obernburg (a Main) County : | | +---- Miltenberg {MIL} RegBez : | +------- Unterfranken Land : +--------- Bayern ZIP : 63785 Popul : 7486 Locat : 49d51m N 9d09m E Norm B. ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2003 10:46 AM Subject: Re: Re: [BAVARIA] Ludwig or Zapp - Obenburg Bayern Norm, I copied the spelling exactly as it was written on the tombstone. Could it be that Obenburg is the German spelling for either Obernburg or Oberburg? And yes he was catholic. Would I then perhaps try church records in the 2 Obernburgs and the 2 Oberburgs? Do you know where I need to go to find out where to search Catholic records? Thanks for writing? Gail