Don, Thank you for that great link...between the census takers writing what they heard...and trying to read what they have written, it is a very challenging task pursuing German research. Besides researching my families, I am also putting together research on the 90 something families who all immigrated at the same time from the Viernheim area. It is interesting to see how other families did...where they went, etc. I also want to thank Pat for her attempt at the pronunciation..do not know why I never thought to "play" with the "d " in the name. I kept using Rad* as my wild card with variations centered around the vowel... Again...my thanks to all in this forum... Virginia