Dan, He/They certainly sound as though you have only one man, the original Franz Xaver Koenig. You know that König is an early surname from the Urloffen area. At Renchen you have the marriage record. I believe from memory of searching at Renchen for the missing siblings from my family searches that Familienbuch pages were filmed of the Renchen Catholic Church. If Xaver and Caroline stayed at Renchen after the marriage, did you double check the family in the Familienbuch to confirm that the surname spelling stayed as Koehly rather than Koenig? Koehly might be merely a Priest's misspelling within the Marriage Register; the Familienbuch may give you an answer....or leave you without an answer. A second thought and here I do not know Renchen. Was Koehly a normal surname of Renchen? If so, a Priest's error could be the logical answer. I've seen and I imagine you have seen corrections of surnames in Church Registers and have seen certain errors where no correction was made. It is logical that they are but one man. And, there is still the slim possibility that they are two separate individuals. If Xaver were mine, I admit I would accept him and add as complete clarifying notes about the surname(s) as possible. From what you had told us and what I understand are your methods of research, I believe they are one. I could not say this to a neophyte researcher. djweber [email protected] ---------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan Bravard" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 8:37 PM Subject: [Ortenau] Koehnig/Koehly same surname? >I am helping another genealogy researcher with tracing her family line back > to this region and have a bit of a mystery. I am hoping that one of you > might be able to shed some light. > > I found the 1881 mairrage record of Franz Xaver KOEHLY and Caroline > Maegerle > in Renchen. It listes the birthdate of Franz Xaver, who is of Urloffen, > and > parents' names. I then go to the baptismal records of Urloffen and find > that there is a Xaver KOENIG with the exact same birthdate and parents' > names of the mairrage record. I am fairly certain that Franz Xaver KOEHLY > married in Renchen is Xaver Koehnig born in Urloffen - too much of a > coincidence in dates and parents' names. However, I can't explain the > difference in surnames. Does anyone know if there is any significance in > the name difference or perhaps why there might have been a name change? > > Thanks. > > Dan Bravard > Columbus, Ohio >