Maurine, The Ortenau is a Kreis (like an American County, almost) in Baden. Baden which was once a mish-mash of many countries and then was a Grand Duchy, today is part of the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Baden-Württemberg) which includes the former countries/territories of Baden, of Wuerttemberg and of Hohenzollern. There are better maps available but, as per a previous message my files are not accessible at present. Two historic maps which might help would be < http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/central_europe_1815_1866.jpg > and < http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/central_europe_1812.jpg >. On the first URL, the approximate area of the Kingdom of Wuerttemberg is shown to the east, to the right of Baden. If you take Baden and notice the town of Offenburg which is just to the east of the identified Strasburg, Offenburg is somewhat the heart, the center of the Ortenau Kreis. From the second URL, again Wuerttemberg is in its location. The Ortenau now might be identified from the town of Kehl which is noted on this map. Offenburg is just to the east and again the Ortenau covers a somewhat circular area around Offenburg. There is a map of the town areas of the Ortenau (and a bit more) under the Karte tab at the companion site, < http://ortenau.speedyspace.de/ >. If this doesn't start to clarify the situation, yell at me and I can find a much more exact map when I get back to my own computer. djweber [email protected] --------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Maurine LeBlanc <[email protected]> Sent: May 13, 2005 8:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Ortenau] Location of Wurttemberg Greetings, A question - is Wurttemberg (spelling?) in the Ortenau area? A new correspondent says his ggrandfather came from Wurttemberg so I am checking for him. Thanks bunches, Maurine