I had experienced similar difficulties. Although you provide a great deal of information about the family, have you found any records regarding any of their naturalizations, which may be informative for their place of birth? Also has a record of ship arrival been found for them? Likely coming as early as they did their arrival port would have been Milwaukee, but this is just a guess. Knowing about their arrival, a departure passenger ship list can be found if they left from Hamburg. A person's 'place of birth'/'last residence' was recorded in Hamburg for each emigrant. Lastly, start looking for possible relatives that also immigrated and thoroughly investigate the places of birth recorded for them on Wisconsin records. One thing Wisconsin records have provided me with have been a phonetic place name in Pommern for a younger brother of my gr-grandfather. Also, having studied the more established Heidel family from Green Lake County (mine migrated to Minnesota, Kansas & Oregon) who came "to the Green Lake prairie" shortly after my gr-gr-grandfather had started farming there has given the best lead yet for Kreis Demmin to have been the place in Pommern where my Heidels emigrated. Since making this discovery I have found other Heidels whose forefather had emigrated from there, as well. James Heidel

James, thank you for your response. I have searched for naturalization records for Johann and Joseph Birler but the Milwaukee Historical Society says it could not find any records. I have not found ship records and think that will be what I have to concentrate on now. Again, thanks for your suggestions. Dianne ----- Original Message ----- From: <Ufgtrs19@aol.com> To: <GERMANS-WI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 7:27 AM Subject: Re: [GERMANS-WI] Birler/Mayer/Meyer > I had experienced similar difficulties. Although you provide a great deal of > information about the family, have you found any records regarding any of > their naturalizations, which may be informative for their place of birth? > Also has a record of ship arrival been found for them? Likely coming as > early as they did their arrival port would have been Milwaukee, but this is > just a guess. Knowing about their arrival, a departure passenger ship list > can be found if they left from Hamburg. A person's 'place of birth'/'last > residence' was recorded in Hamburg for each emigrant. Lastly, start looking > for possible relatives that also immigrated and thoroughly investigate the > places of birth recorded for them on Wisconsin records. > > One thing Wisconsin records have provided me with have been a phonetic place > name in Pommern for a younger brother of my gr-grandfather. Also, having > studied the more established Heidel family from Green Lake County (mine > migrated to Minnesota, Kansas & Oregon) who came "to the Green Lake prairie" > shortly after my gr-gr-grandfather had started farming there has given the > best lead yet for Kreis Demmin to have been the place in Pommern where my > Heidels emigrated. Since making this discovery I have found other Heidels > whose forefather had emigrated from there, as well. > > James Heidel > > > ==== GERMANS-WI Mailing List ==== > The GERMANS-WI-L Mail List Home Page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~irishrose/germans-wi-l.htm >