Jim, One of the descendants of my Sack family (from Röglitz, Germany) found in his aunt's desk letters that had been written to and from "papa" in Germany. He took the letters and had them translated into English and then sent copies to different relatives. I have copies of these letters and they are fantastic. The Historical Society of Nebraska asked to see the original letters to verify the information. Upon their researching here and Germany the letters were verified. The reason the society wanted to verify the letters is because Franz Sack (a mason in Germany) helped to build the capitol building in Lincoln. The reason for this explanation is because Franz writes to papa about his voyage to America, learning English before arriving here, and all the toil and effort it took to reach Nebraska. After settling into his job doing masonry he writes home to tell his brothers about the free land that is available. Franz encourages his brothers to partake of the 80 acres that has only the stipulation a house is built and the land farmed. The letters do not offer a reason for coming to America as the Sack family were educated and of means. Perhaps it was the adventure of going to a new land. By the way, two other brothers and a sister (my great-grandmother) did follow suit and came to Nebraska. I would be most glad to share these letters to anyone who might be interested. Maurine

Maurine, About your Sack family letters...unless you have given some controlling right to the Nebraska Historical Society, why don't you sort them into an order and put them on-line for anyone to read. I don't know if Wendelin's "Userpages" link from the Companion Page at < http://ortenau.genealogy-bw.de/search/ > has space or is a proper place for such information but why don't you check with Wendelin to see if they could be put into that link through an OCR application. ---------- And adding on to Gabi's URL identification, another web site at < http://members.aol.com/sycophant4/bohn1843.htm#70 > offers some details of a trip from Hannover to America in 1843. I know I have seen several other such emigration trips detailed on-line. I'll try to dig to see if I can find them again. ---------- For your kindness in trying to help with my Jäger problem, I felt I should tell you that all my past ideas are now "dead" but I have ordered the LDS filmed Familienbuch for Welschensteinach. A complex set of search steps has taken me through a new trail into another possible town. Probably another dead-end; I'll know within the next month. djweber [email protected]