The information "Lutter am Barenberg" is really a "break through" and we can see this Johann's birthplace on a larger map of Germany between Hannover to the North and Kassel to the South. To refine the search find Salzgitter and Goslar if you nearly split the distance between these two towns you'll find Lutter am Barenberge at the Foothills of the Harz Mountains in Thueringen. Hessen is to the West closer to the Rhineland. If you go to this Url, you can see that the area is a favored vacation area with lots of hiking trails. There are several Nature clubs and environmentally dedicated people to keep the German forest intact. http://www.harzklub.de/zweigvereine/lutter.html I have checked the Goslar, Salzgitter and Lutter am Barenberge Telephone books - there are no Ruhr or Ruerschneck listed. If they schow up around Nuernberg, they may have moved, because it was so veryclose to the East German border. As you are checking all sources, things will eventually reveal themselves; so just keep plugging away and give it time and don't forget to keep a notebook or a file to store all these informations. You will go back to these many times. Aida