Hello Frank My name is Kevin and I was born and raised in Philadelphia. If they lived in the city, and you can't get any other leads from Immigration records and such, you might want to try the City Directory. It was a listing of people and addresses much like a phone book, only in the days before there were phones. It was published every year and goes back well into the 1700's with virtually everyone listed (in alphabetical order.) If you look up the name Hummel you'll find anyone by that name living within the city limits. The listing will include their usually include their occupations. Often, immigrants who were related would settle in the same area (you may even find them at the same address,) and using maps of the city from that era you can determine whether any of the Hummels that you find are listed in that same area. This will give you a place to start. If you then trace them forward and backward in time you can discover when they entered the book and when they exited the book. Their entry may correspond to an immigration date (within a few years), and their exit may correspond to a death record. From this gathering of information you can check city archives for birth, marriage, and death records to see what other names show up. You may get a match at any point in this process with the names you already know. The Directories are available on microfilm at the Main Library on Logan Square in Philadelphia along with census records. I found over 80% of my ancestors with this method because I found one person, and their corresponding death record and I literally hit paydirt. It turns out there were 28 relatives buried in the same grave site with him, as was the custom of the time. Hope I haven't bored you and I hope this helps. Kevin M. Palan -----Original Message----- From: GERMAN-KINGDOMS-D-request@rootsweb.com <GERMAN-KINGDOMS-D-request@rootsweb.com> To: GERMAN-KINGDOMS-D@rootsweb.com <GERMAN-KINGDOMS-D@rootsweb.com> Date: Sunday, August 20, 2000 5:01 PM Subject: GERMAN-KINGDOMS-D Digest V00 #285