With regards to abbreviations in German genealogy transcripts- does anyone know what cop. is? I think it is referring to marriage but I am not sure Also u and ua. For example against my great grandfather they have his first wife listed and after her name are the initials u.a. Specifically Fides Fuller u.a. The only thing "odd" that I know about this marriage is that maybe she was married after the birth of her son - its hard to tell as this marriage and birth occur in the year that the calendars changed. Also she may have been a Jewess and her husband was definitely a Roman Catholic. This information has come from the Stadt in Rodgau whereas she was married in Frankfurt am Main. (hence Rodgau did not give me a marriage date but I have a copy of their marriage certificate from the Stadt in Frankfurt a.m.) and in the same block, next to my great grandfathers sisters they have put the men they married but I do not think the names are complete one reads Christian Ott V and the other Jakob Schrod V The roman numerals (and I am guessing that the V is a roman numeral) appear after other names and I know them to be the first, second, third with that name. It appears to be in those situations where they adopted the family christian name eg 6 sons with the name Anthon or Johannes and so on. But I am sure that the Ott and Schrod are also contractions/ abbreviations - but for what? And the final abbreviation is um - I am guessing that is the equivalent of our "about" "after" or "before" when we don't know an exact date. None of those go to a direct translation of um that I can see. Any thoughts and help would be greatly appreciated!! Many Thanks Keep Looking For Rainbows!! _--_|\ /Karen \ \ _.--._ / v Karen http://members.optushome.com.au/karens