I am seeking direction concerning one of my German ancestors for whom I am presently at a dead end. I am in possession of a copy of a letter dated 1907 which suggests that my ancestor, Moses Tapp, married "Mary Bach, a German girl." Here is my dilemma: The alleged Mary Bach (if that was indeed her name) married said Tapp in Culpeper County circa 1784 based on the ages of their oldest children in later census records. This would place Mary's birth circa 1755/1765. I have contacted Dan Back, who is presently updating the book, A Back Family History, and he advises that out of the more than 40,000 descendants of the immigrant BACK/BACH family that settled in northern Virginia (the part which eventually became Culpeper County), there is not a single Mary Back/Bach of the right age to have been my Mary. One or two of Hermann Back's sons apparently had daughters named Mary, but they were not born until circa 1777, much too early to have been my Mary. So, I have the research of Dan Back and his colleagues ostensibly precludes a Back/Bach connection. To further complicate matters, the name Back/Bach does not appear to be closely associated with the Tapp in Culpeper County land records. In fact, those records appear to place the Back family quite a distance away from the Tapp family. These dead ends leave me with no alternative but to seek fresh ideas to possibly help identify my alleged Mary Bach. Consider the following speculation: There are land records which connect Frederick FISHBACK to the Tapp family. (In fact, he appears to have had a daughter named Mary of the right age to have married Moses Tapp.) The UTTERBACK family is also found living on an adjacent plat to my Tapp ancestors. There are no doubt other families of German origin residing in Culpeper County at the time with last names ending in "back," "boch" or "bach." Were there any of these families known to have shortened their names to Back or Bach? I have read where some immigrants intentionally changed their names for a variety of reasons. I have even considered the possibility that one or more of the Bach males could have fathered an illegitimate daughter whose name does not appear in the Back family register? One other possibility, I suppose, is that Mary Bach could have been the young widow of a Bach male rather than a Bach by birth. However, I presume Dan Back would have advised of that possibility in his response to my inquiry if. I know I am grasping for straws here, but such is my plight at this point. I would appreciate any ideas the list can provide that might help me refine, add to or eliminate the above possibilities. At this point, anything is possible. David