> Von: obryan2 <obryan2@banet.net> > I just received my ggrandfather's death certificate hoping to find > out his parents names and his birthdate. unfortunately no > birhtdate, father listed as fred john Buschmann i assume > he was frederick. Mother's name I cannot make out > Meta or Mita ? Von Mindar or Mondar the a could be an > o and the r could be a u. I tried plugging in various > versions into surname lists and came up with nothing. I > have never heard of any of these names and was hoping > someone has an idea. Most of my reseach has been Irish > and French canadian I am just starting on my German line > and am afraid very uneducated so far. Thanks in advance. Maureen, give the town of Minden in the Westphalia region a try. On the German White Pages I found 15 Buschmann entries listed there. The other town of Minden in the Sauerland region doesn't show Buschmann's. You didn't let us know of which religion your ancestors had been. Therefore I send you a few addresses of the main churches there. You should write a letter to the church offices asking for records or copies of records: Pfarr-Bezirk I Menzelstrasse 1 D-32429 Minden (Lutheran church office I) Pfarr-Bezirk II Friedgartenstrasse 35 D-32429 Minden (Lutheran church office II) Reformierte Kirche St. Petri Pfarrer Kreutz Videbullenstrasse 9 D-32423 Minden (Reformed church office) Dekanatsbuero fuer das Dekanat Minden Pauline-von-Mallinckrodt-Platz 3 D-32423 Minden (Catholic church headquarter of Minden) You didn't mention a year or a century. Therefore it is possible that the churches don't hold the records but the marriage license office does. Here is the address: Stadtverwaltung Minden Standesamt Marienstrasse 75 D-32425 Minden > fred john Buschmann His German name probably is Friedrich Johannes (or Johann) Buschmann > Meta or Mita Meta was a common German first name for females. Please, go on http://www.genealogy.com to learn how to research in Germany. You will appreciate all the data finding there. -- Best regards/Gruss, Johannes Sempert Only a Genealogist regards a step backwards as progress.