Try John (Johann) Bower (Bauer). The "John Smith" of Germany. He was born in Germany on Apr 25, 1833 and come to Canada in 1854. Had a son, John Bower on May 23, 1861 who moved to Wykoff, Minnesota about 1895. Had a son, John Bower on May 16, 1914 who moved to WI about 1937 and had another John Bower! And now there are two more! Can't really get upset with the ancestors when we just kept doing the same thing. lol Lita http://www.picturetrail.com/grammapux Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. Thoreau ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dalle, Nancy, Civ, 126 CES, CEOR, 4878" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 7:08 AM Subject: Re: [CAN-USA-MIG] Simple surnames > My last name is West. My great Grandfather and Grandfather's names were > Joseph. Do you know how many Joseph West there are in the world. This > was > one of my stumbling blocks. It still is, I've got my Great Grandfather's > name - David West and I know he came from Scotland to Canada then to > Michigan. But he is my end of this line unless I can find more about him. > West is a very common name and searching for ancestors is like looking for > a > needle in a haystack...... But I'll keep looking......