For those of you who might be interested: I went to Sterbfritz, /Schwarzenfels/Sintal area in April and made contact with many researchers interested, not only in Herche but the area in general. In Altengronau there is a house, still called the Herche Haus, now still occupied by a direct descendent, Herche/Maienschein/Ulrich, a daughter now married to an Ulrich. (and all variations on the spelling). I am in contact with Karl-Heinz Herche, his direct ancestor is Hartmann Herche, a younger brother of Johannes. Many of Hartmann's descendants are still in Germany, some went to Indiana. Karl-Heinz's father was the last Herche in Sterbfritz, leaving there about 1927. I am hoping, with his help, and that of Clemens Schreiber who researches Church Records in the area, and the local historian Karl Ulrich, living in Schwarzenfels, that we may, once and for all, know who our 1st "Herche/Harkey" was. I have tons of info, I can start to post it. Unfortunately, it still does not get us from there to here, and I firmly believe that the Lydia in 1743 was NOT the ship Herche used to enter this country. Anyone interested? <:?)

About Nina's letter to the list. I am all for her sending anything that she thinks may help us on our quest to find the immigrant ancestor. I have high hopes that within the next year or two we can find the answers to some of our mysteries. There is so much that we need to know. It is not often that people can find someone in Europe who has the interest and who is willing to try to dig out the old records that might help them discover family in America and us to find our family over there. Mary Harkey Russell bird@glasgow-ky.com http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bird