Maybe I should explain a little more: My roots, or my understanding of them, go back no farther that 1887. I haven't even found my Hart grandfather yet! But my Dad said he came from Germany. I have requested a census search, and hopefully (if I have the correct county) that will provide a correct immigration date. In the meantime, I am searching for other German Harts. I think I'm on the right track, because my other German ancesters came over about the same time. But, you can probably tell I haven't been doing this long.... I have seen the name spelled HARDT and HARTE. There may be other ways, but I can't think of them at the moment. The ones I have seen on ship lists came from the "more German" parts of Germany. By that, I mean the areas now known as central Germany, not Pommern or other regions farther away. Sorry, I don't really know much about Germany, so I can't be very factual. Hey, it would be funny if I found out that my Harts are actually Irish, wouldn't it? Thanks, Tim