Jane. In a response from Linda you stated: "I have never heard the '-kemper' on the end of the name, so I do not believe there is a connection. I am going to try to go through birth records of other relatives as suggested. Thank you for the replies. I need all the help I can get-like finding a needle in a haystack!" Not knowing how far you have gotten, allow me to make an observation. During WW I, many German families changed the spelling of their surnames to make them appear more American., for example in the below name STIEFFERMANN many changed the spelling to STIEFERMAN, STIEFFERMAN and there are others that went as far as STIEF and STIEFER. I once asked a German student how they ever taught their children to spell their names. His comment was many German words are assembled by combining several words to make one word, to do this they just remove the spaces between the words. This also the way you may have to translate German documents into English, one syllable at a time. Additionally you must also remember that many of the emigrants couldn't read and when they were asked for their name they may have given the correct pronunciation, but the emigration official put it down phonetically or at least the way he thought it sounded. Who was to know the difference, since there was no one to verify the mouth to ear to paper transfer. Who was it that made the statement "Let no stone unturned". Bill Surnames of Interest: BUCHHOLZ anywhere -BECKMANN-CASSIDY-DeL0NJAY-DREES-MOSBACHER-NENTWIG-NEUTZLER-PONCOT-RENSIN G-STAUDER-STIEFFERMANN ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!