Brian, After your original question on the B-W List, I imagine I did the same rough investigation as you. I went to the < http://ortenau.speedyspace.de/search/ >, looked at the town of Urloffen, then went on to Dan Bravard's identified page at < http://www.oatney.org/Urloffen_Germany.htm >. From having been at that page before, I knew that Dan's Kieffer ancestors preceded my search in time, as I remembered his connection was of the late 1600s. Wanda Ridge had offered you some details after the B-W message but that ring/group did have a couple of other Kieffer/Kiefer entries and perhaps someone there might help you. I had told you that after I had found my connection to Kieffer in the 1703-1705 period that I had attemptd to work a downward tree from that family (of Jakob Kieffer and Margaretha Saur who is a daughter and sister of two of my direct ancestors) but that family tree is only about 4 to 5 generations and I have practically no information into the 1800s, let alone your 1844 birth year. My group of Extended Films at my local LDS have been decimated as a result of the lack of space there and the large volume of use at that LDS FHC. I have left only about twenty-five per cent of the films I once had but that remaining amount includes fours rolls of Urloffen Church Registers films, none of which are late enough in time to give you any answers. I do not have any middle 1800s records but.... film 0949963 does include an index for baptisms from 1786-1900 according to the LDS catalog. In checking that film for the year 1844, the baptistm of a Ludovika Kiefer is identified. By then the name Kieffer had varied down to Kiefer and while "Ludovika" would not be the exact logical and normal spelling, it is a variant on the feminine of the masculine name Ludovic/Ludwig (Louis) and in America, could have been Louise. You need to check into LDS film 0949964 to confirm the baptism/birth and determine the parents. As for the marriage of the parents, without the baptismal record identifying the exact parents, there is no roll of film which would help. Also, we don't know if your Louise Kiefer was the first or the fifteenth child born of the marriage so we don't know how long the parents were married prior to her 1844 birth. However, from another index, this time for marriages, we do know that in 1843 a Bernard (probably Bernhard) Kiefer and a Monica Reinbold (perhaps Rheinbold) were married in Urloffen but in the prior several years, other Kiefer males married women named Maria Anna, Maria Anna and Maria Magdalena. We are still at the point where you need to research those Urloffen films unless someone on this List or through Dan's contacts happens to have a connection for you. djweber [email protected]

DJW and Brian: I have the rolls in question on permanent loan at my local FHC and would be quite willing to look up a few entries. However, with the rather lengthy description below could you summarize what you want me to look up? It would make things easier for me. Thanks. Dan ----- Original Message ----- From: "djweber" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 2:12 PM Subject: Re: [Ortenau] Searching for KEIFER ancestors from OFFENBURG > Brian, > > After your original question on the B-W List, I imagine I did the same > rough > investigation as you. I went to the < > http://ortenau.speedyspace.de/search/ > >, looked at the town of Urloffen, then went on to Dan Bravard's > >identified > page at < http://www.oatney.org/Urloffen_Germany.htm >. From having been > at > that page before, I knew that Dan's Kieffer ancestors preceded my search > in > time, as I remembered his connection was of the late 1600s. Wanda Ridge > had > offered you some details after the B-W message but that ring/group did > have > a couple of other Kieffer/Kiefer entries and perhaps someone there might > help you. > > I had told you that after I had found my connection to Kieffer in the > 1703-1705 period that I had attemptd to work a downward tree from that > family (of Jakob Kieffer and Margaretha Saur who is a daughter and sister > of > two of my direct ancestors) but that family tree is only about 4 to 5 > generations and I have practically no information into the 1800s, let > alone > your 1844 birth year. > > My group of Extended Films at my local LDS have been decimated as a result > of the lack of space there and the large volume of use at that LDS FHC. I > have left only about twenty-five per cent of the films I once had but that > remaining amount includes fours rolls of Urloffen Church Registers films, > none of which are late enough in time to give you any answers. I do not > have any middle 1800s records but.... > > film 0949963 does include an index for baptisms from 1786-1900 according > to > the LDS catalog. In checking that film for the year 1844, the baptistm of > a > Ludovika Kiefer is identified. By then the name Kieffer had varied down > to > Kiefer and while "Ludovika" would not be the exact logical and normal > spelling, it is a variant on the feminine of the masculine name > Ludovic/Ludwig (Louis) and in America, could have been Louise. > > You need to check into LDS film 0949964 to confirm the baptism/birth and > determine the parents. > > As for the marriage of the parents, without the baptismal record > identifying > the exact parents, there is no roll of film which would help. Also, we > don't know if your Louise Kiefer was the first or the fifteenth child born > of the marriage so we don't know how long the parents were married prior > to > her 1844 birth. > > However, from another index, this time for marriages, we do know that in > 1843 a Bernard (probably Bernhard) Kiefer and a Monica Reinbold (perhaps > Rheinbold) were married in Urloffen but in the prior several years, other > Kiefer males married women named Maria Anna, Maria Anna and Maria > Magdalena. > We are still at the point where you need to research those Urloffen films > unless someone on this List or through Dan's contacts happens to have a > connection for you. > > djweber > [email protected] > > > > >