This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/IOG.2ACIB/273.3 Message Board Post: I noticed this as well and wondered if anyone knew a way to research the topic further. According to a book titled "History of the Jews" that I purchased there were many Jews from North Africa that fled into Alscase-Loraine and areas of Western Germany in the 1600s. Many of these rural living Jews mixed into the general population more than those living in the cities. Some rural Jews intermarried with non Jews and later converted ( Catholic or Lutheran). One can clearly see that names of many German families that fled to America during the 1700s were more "Jewish" than one would find in other regions of Germany at the same period. Was this the style or were they retaining some of their cultural heritage? I often wondered at the religion/heritage of Ursula daughter of gravedigger Jacob Ruop and wife of Johannes Breyhel. This is a sensitive issue and speculation and you may respond off line if you prefer.