Thank you to all who responded... -- Have a great day :-) Sharon McGinness smcginness1@cox.net

Hello, list, Can someone on this list tell me how far it would have been from Mueller to the village of Kamenka? And how likely is it that a young man from Mueller would marry a young maiden from Kamenka? Also is Katerina and Katharina likely to be the same person? I'm grasping at straws here! Thanks, Suzanne Heinitz-Dodge --------------------------------- Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool.

Katerina and Katharina are most likely the same person. When translating between German and Russian you should be aware that Russian is not a letter-for-letter translation of German. The names are written in Russian so that when they are read out loud they sound correct. When a translator translates the name back to German they do not have knowledge of the "correct" spelling and are left to sound out the German spelling as Katerina, Katharina, Katherina, Catharina, Catarina, etc.

Mueller to Kamenka is about 30 kilometers (under 19 miles). See map at http://www.volgagermans.net/norka/images/Volga%20Colonies%20Map%20copy.j pg Kamenka is fairly close to Mueller in comparison to most of the other villages. Travel of that distance was common in those days, and is reasonable that a couple could meet over that distance. Actually my ancestors met over much greater distances from Norka to Schaffhausen (over 180 kilometers / 110 miles). Also, some marriages were arranged and quite possibly the parents had business, religious, social or even other family ties with each other. Patrick Lipphardt Ancestral villages of Norka & Schaffhausen