I am having a problem discovering the origin of my great- grandfather, Joseph Kwiatkowski. He was born in Germany on February 24, 1867 and supposedly immigrated to the US on January 13, 1892. I have his Naturalization Papers and they state that he was born in a town named Blato or Bilato, Germany. For two years I have searched for this town and have come to the conclusion that the spelling on his Naturalization papers was a phonetic spelling by the interviewer. There are many sound-alikes in both Germany and Poland, but I have no idea which would be the correct town. Moreover, the papers state that he came on the ship Dresden from Bremen to New York on January 13, 1892, but the Dresden did not commence voyages from Bremen to New York until MAY of 1892. I had someone do a lookup in the Germans to America books and was told that he is not there. I wrote to NARA in Washington and he was not found in their January 13, 1892 passenger lists. I also asked them to check January 13, 1893 records because the Dresden DID come to New York on that date, but NARA says the records for that date were too faint to read. I can't find him in the Ellis Island database either. I have his death certificate, St. Stanislaus (Cleveland) church marriage record, and all the census records, but none have any birth information other than "Germany" or "Poland". Can anyone offer any suggestions as to how I can discover the origin of this elusive ancestor? I would love to find his specific town of birth so that I can check out German church records. Thank you in advance for ANY help. Anne AMREINKR@aol.com

> I am having a problem discovering the origin of my great- > grandfather, Joseph Kwiatkowski. He was born in Germany on February > 24, 1867 and supposedly immigrated to the US on January 13, 1892. I > have his Naturalization Papers and they state that he was born in a > town named Blato or Bilato, Germany. > > <snip> > > AMREINKR@aol.com Have your tried: http://www.avotaynu.com/ellis.html for your Ellis Island search? It is much better and more flexible than the main web site. bob gillis bob gillis <rpgillis@bellatlantic.net>

> http://www.avotaynu.com/ellis.html > > for your Ellis Island search? It is much better and more flexible > than the main web site. > > bob gillis Bob, I tried the web site you suggested and it could not be found. Any suggestions? Jeanette donette@means.net