"singhals" <[email protected]> schreef: > I need brainstorming help ... > > I have one clue, and one only, to an ancestor's place of origin in > Europe: he claimed he was naming his successive plantations for his > home town. Where, in Europe? It's important as different wars (civil, national and international) have not done a lot for record survival - your first question has to be about which registers have survived. It can be patchy - single books can go missing, or whole series. For example, in one scottish town I search, the baptismal registers go back to the early 1700s, the oldest marriage register is missing and those records don't start until the 1840s. > Someone help me out -- If he didn't come from where he said he came > from, and where everyone who met him said he was from, where's the > first place I should look next? Depends on the country - the local genealogical or history offices might be a good place. Lesley Robertson "Lesley Robertson" <[email protected]>