On 14/08/2012 21:23, David Railton wrote: > Is Lower Saxony Part of Saxony or is it a different place? > Different place. There are three (modern-day) federal states with "Sachsen" in the name - Niedersachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Sachsen. Sachsen-Anhalt borders onto both Niedersachsen and Sachsen, but Niedersachsen and Sachsen are a fair way from each other. Here is a map: http://www.deutsche-staedte.de/bundeslaender_fr.html And to get back to your original post - you need to be aware that there are two towns called Oldenburg. One ("Oldenburg in Oldenburg") is in Lower Saxony (near the Dutch border), the other one ("Oldenburg in Holstein") is in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. They are both a fair way from Hanover (170 and 260 km respectively), so you should keep an open mind as to which of the two your ancestor came from. Angelika