Hi Deborah! my RENZ (Rentz,Renc) was from Baden but he immigrated in 1872. have you checked nara.gov ??? and have you checked the states between NY and IA? i just found out a few months ago alot of mine went to Stark county OH. and apparently during that time period (1850's) the first newspaper was German in that area. they stayed there till 1860 my gggggrandparents and 1880 my ggggrandfather then went to Huntington co IN. kathy Researching; Dougherty, McLaughlin, Gordon, MacDonald, Brennan and Shephard in Ireland, Canada and Phila PA Vollmer (Fulmer), Renz (Rentz), Schumacher (Shoemaker), Muller and Huther in Germany, Ohio and Indiana Baer (Beyer), Paszotta and Shutt in Germany, Delaware, Indiana and Philadelphia ----------------------------------------- list "mom" for; [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ----------------------------------------- my home page: http://community.webtv.net/kathy556/DoughertyGordonBaer