Hi Marcia, Someone may have answered you already - so sorry if this is repeated. You may want to check this database of emigrants - Emigration from Lippe to the USA: http://www.lippe-auswanderer.de/htm/auswanderer-usa-eng.htm click on Data of Emigrants ... then also click on Orte/Namen for Place Names which start with the letter "B". There are 25 names listed for surname Fricke. This name was the closest to the person you wrote of in your message: Friedrich Wilhelm Simon Heinrich Fricke * 13.04.1847 in Berlebeck (?), Bauer Good luck with your research! Kathleen ________ --- Marcia O'Connor wrote: " ... I have been trying to trace back the German hometown of William S. H. Fricke (1833-1913) who came to NYC (Brooklyn) somewhere around 1860 with a couple brothers (who went further west to Wisconsin). I found a very promising record of three Frickes (Christoff A., Joahann, and Wm.) coming over in October 1860 on the Helvetica from Bremen. It lists Lippe Detmold as their hometown. I also have a Bergen County NJ 1920 census record for William's son (William Jr.) that lists what looks like Brandenburg as his father's origin ..." ____________________________________________________________________________________ Cheap talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. http://voice.yahoo.com