Good morning, My sincere thanks to all you kind folks who answered my request for a translation. I now have two more bits of information about my greatgrandfather. I'm so glad I asked. Several of you suggested that I might have sent more information in my original posting to help in translation or just give others a chance to learn from the answers. That's a good idea. I received a Vorfahrenliste (I guess that roughly translates to Ancestor list) from Hessische familiengeschichtliche Vereinigung e. V. in Darmstadt, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. A letter of mine, in German, to a gentleman in Germany researching the same surname, was forwarded to them. The answer to my question about ancestors of Georg SCHAMBACH, my greatgrandfather, included information about his parents and grandparents. My question to this list was about the abbreviations in German following his birth date. I knew his birth date and that he had been born in Bensheim, Hesse Darmstadt. Here is what I was sent: SCHAMBACH, Johann Georg *23.09.1824 rk 2.Kind=1.Sohn Bensheim Translated this means: * Birth date,23 September, 1824 rk Roman Catholic 2.Kind second child 1.Sohn first son Bensheim birth place His parents were Johann Theobald SCHAMBACH, baptized 24 November, 1798, rk Bensheim and Katharina DORN, baptized 28 September, 1799 rk Bensheim. They were married 7 May, 1822 in Bensheim. Grandparents were Johann SCHAMBACH married to Katharina EMIG and Nicklas DORN married to Sophia HILLENBRAND. I had a lot of help from the translation team at http://www.genealogienetz.de/misc/translation.html when I was sending letters and e-mails back and forth. I can say only good things about them! I don't know if all this will help anyone else, but I hope so. This research has been a grand learning experience for me! And if anyone knows of these ancestors I would love to hear from you. Again, thanks for the kindness in helping me. Helen