[email protected] wrote: > > I have two lines of family who immigrated to America in the 1870s and 1880s. > ... > 1) Ernst WITT -- Says he was born in Gross Buetzin, Prussia. > I looked and found such a town name in Mecklenburg-Schwerin area. Thought to > now order parish records, etc from FHC. > > However - then I found in his wife's record: > > 2) Maria KRUEGER -- born in Azelshof, Prussia > Couldn't find such a place. Then switched to a different mapping program - > (http://maps.excite.com) - and suddenly there it was on my screen - in the > "middle" of what is now Germany. However, didn't know what "province" that > was - just what cities and towns it was near! > > Now: > Found "another" Gross Buetzin - that looks to be about 5 miles or so from > this Azelshof. These two lines (WITT and KRUEGER) intermarried - not sure > which side of the ocean - but it would make sense that the towns/villages > would be close to each other. Family lore is that they knew each other > "before" coming to America. Don't know how accurate that is... > > So: looked at more maps yesterday and today. Both towns appear to be small > and in the western part of "Thuringia". Interesting that this list just > started discussing Thuringia too. (See Dieter's comments below about the > duchies, etc that "made up" Thuringia). > > Questions: > 1) Do I have it right - and should be looking in this geographical area for > Gross Buetzin and Azelshof? Surely, what else ? > 2) If so, and given Dieter's comments (see below), how do I determine what > part of Thuringia this is for the 1815 - 1880 timeframe? I can't tell > anything other than both villages are at the western part - close to Hessian > border. At this time both villages were in Prussia, Provinz Sachsen. Today this southern part of Provinz Sachsen belongs to Thuringia. Dieter