Hi All! I thought I'd finally say hello & let you know who my BEYERs are, even though my spelling is different than your list title. If anyone connects or knows something about these people (of whatever spelling, since I've seen them all - BYERS, BEYERS, BOYER, BAYER, BEIER, BAIER, BAER, etc. for my same early brothers...), I'd love to hear from you! Even just advice for further research paths would be appreciated. This surname is one of my two big "brick wall"s since I can't even pin down whether these are early Pennsylvania BEYERs or BOYERs or BYERS, or LATE 19th C. German or Swiss immigrants, OR even how the name was spelled before the 20th C. I do know they were very poor, & still almost LOOKED like immigrants, even up to & including my grandmother & her siblings. You can see pictures of my great-grandfather, Conrad, in his Civil War uniform, & some of his children on my site at the URL address below my signature. Censuses say he & his family were born variously in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, & Germany. I've found one Conrad born in 1845, the same year as my g-grandfather, on the LDS IGI; his parents were listed as a Jacob BEYERS/BYERS & his wife, Catherine BERST, (m. 1843) in Indiana. I even have BURSTs from Baden in my VOLZ line, which married into my BEYERs later on, but I HAVE believed up until now that one of the reasons for the confusion about birth-place was due to the conjunction of the three states NEAR to Cincinnati (my hometown). This Jacob & Catherine, I believe, were situated in Kosciusko County, Indiana - fairly far from the area in which I've been concentrating (SE Indiana near the Ohio River). Also, most of the Conrads & Jacobs I've seen so far seem to have come from Pennsylvania (or even CANADA), the latter of which - as far as the history behind its concentration of BEYERs - I know absolutely nothing. The 3 brothers listed below - Conrad, Philip, & William - can all be found in late 19th C. Cincinnati city directories; there almost certainly were other siblings about whom I'm unaware. There even might've been twins in the family, & one of them may have died in a drowning accident in the Ohio River, but these are only family rumors handed down. I surely wish to find their origins - birthplace(s), parents, & emigration/immigration timing & placement! Family tradition also has it that maybe Conrad was an orphan or run-away; he certainly was a poor, ragamuffin-like, "street-smart" kid in Cinci. I'm pretty sure that the surname originally came from the name of a tribe that settled in, & gave its name to, Bavaria - the BOIJERs [sp?]) - and therefore, there are many unrelated BEYERs from all over the place, but if anyone knows something that could help me make some progress, please speak up! (1) ? BEYER/BOYER/BEYERS/BYERS?, paternal GG Grandfather b. Germany? PA? Canada? NW Switzerland? & Wife ?, paternal GG Grandmother b. Germany? PA? Canada? NW Switzerland? (2) Philip BEYER, GG Uncle (2) Conrad H.(?) BEYER, paternal G Grandfather b. Apr 11, 1845, where??? d. Sep 2, 1899, Cincinnati, Ohio - worked as foreman at Eagle-Pitcher Leadworks, Cincinnati - lead-poisoning contributed to his death military: Civil War, 9-15-1862 to 7-6-1865; 28th Regt., Co. B., Ohio Volunteer Infantry; served at Fort Dodge as Indian fighter 1871-76 religion: Catholic ? & Mary A. VON ROHR, G Grandmother b. Oct 9, 1855, Switzerland (Ifenthal, Solothurn[?], or near Basel[?] in NW Switzerland, near SW Germany?) d. Jan 6, 1928, Cincinnati, Ohio imm. Jul 11, 1860, Ship "Mercury" from Le Havre to New York religion: Catholic m. Apr 27, 1881, by Rev. F. Kammerer, St. Matthaeus German Evangelical Church, Elm and Liberty Sts., (or maybe Hamilton County Probate Court), Cincinnati, Ohio (3) Mary BEYER, G Aunt b. 1875 d. Oct 20, 1887 (3) Anna BEYER, G Aunt b. Jun 7, 1882 d. Jun 9, 1882 (3) Mathilde "Tillie" BEYER, G Aunt b. Dec 8, 1885, Cincinnati, Ohio? d. ? & Harry GRAU b. ? d. ? m. UNKNOWN (3) Emma BEYER, G Aunt b. Mar 12, 1887 d. Jun 22, 1887 (3) Edna Marianna(?) BEYER, G Aunt b. Oct 15, 1888, 670 Central Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio d. Dec 31, 1968, Cincinnati, Ohio religion: Catholic when young (3) Francisa BEYER, G Aunt b. Dec 3, 1890 d. Mar 1898 (3) Bernard Conrad BEYER, G Uncle b. Jan 19, 1891 d. Dec 14, 1891 (3) Sophia Maria Albertina "Abbie" BEYER, Grandmother b. Dec 12, 1892, 25 Providence St., Cincinnati, Ohio d. Aug 2, 1967, Cincinnati, Ohio bpt. Dec 21, 1892, St. Francis Seraph Catholic Church, Cin�ti, OH religion: Catholic, then Presybterian: Covenant 1st, downtown Cinci & Anthony "Tony" Genius (Gene) VOLZ, Grandfather b. Aug 29, 1890, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio (family from Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County, IN & Gamshurst, Baden, Germany) d. Jan 29, 1983, Mt. Kisco, NY military: U.S. Army, WW I, 1917-1920. Motorcycle messenger in France with AEF. Received Purple Heart; was gassed & also got TB over there religion: Catholic until ca. 1900 m. Sep 1923, Cincinnati, Ohio (3) Adolph Edward "Big Ed" BEYER, G Uncle b. Sep 24, 1895, 656 Carr St., Cincinnati, OH d. Nov 9, 1974 & Mary A. "Mae" SWEENEY (3) Arthur Joseph "Art" BEYER, G Uncle b. Oct 22, 1898, 656 Carr St. Cincinnati, Ohio d. Aug 22, 1975, Cincinnati, Ohio religion: Catholic when young (2) William BEYER, GG Uncle b. abt 1850 Thanks for reading & contemplating this - hope to hear from you, Barbara (Volz Smith) Athens, Ohio [email protected] my family pages can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/6056/FG_TOC.htm