One thing to keep in mind is that the information that was recorded on the census was (at best) filtered only one time. By that I mean that at a minimum there was only 1 interpretation of what the enumerated told the census taker. An example from my own family (my grand mother's grand mother was born in Breitenbach, near Schluctern in what is now Hessen) -- In one census she is recorded as being born in Hesse Cassel, in another Hesse Darmstadt, in another Hesse Nassau, a fourth as Prussia and finally as Germany. Our conclusion was that the census taker "knew of" Hesse Darmstadt because his wife's family was from there. In another, all of the German sounding names were recorded as being born in Hesse Cassel (even if the person was born in America), our guess is census taker just ditto'd HC on the census to save writting. There was also the potential that the person whose information was being recorded was not the person asked the questions. In one example in my family, the wife was asked the questions, being newly married she got much of the information wrong. In another example, the information was given by a the person living in another apartment, who was a distant relative and got the information close but not correct. Another consideration is where the person being asked thought that they were born --- should they give the political division as it was when they were born or as it was at the time of the census. Similar problem exists with people born in Western Virginia 1870 & later. You may want to check for alternative names to "Wuttenburg" also. There is a town named Wertenberg near Lauterbach, NE of Fulda that is, I believe in Hessen. There is also a Wettenberg near Geissen. Just a couple of ideas. Best of success in your searches, Mark Moeser Searching Drushel / Druschel, Frishkorn / Frischkorn / Freshkorn, Zinkham, Breidenbach / Breitenbach, Moeller, and Spahn in the area around Schluchtern in Hessen. In a message dated 2/27/2004 8:01:12 PM Eastern Standard Time, HESSE-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 07:45:38 EST From: NancyL916@aol.com To: HESSE-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <1dc.1b17a9cf.2d7095f2@aol.com> Subject: [HESSE] Re: Hesse D towns and port? Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit According to records my ancestor came from Wuttenburg. Then on Census and death record in New york he's listed as borth Hesse-D. I know Baden-Wuttenburg and Bayern were seperate areas. Would one have left from Wuttenburg in 1850 or there was no port? Is there any web source to list the towns consisting of Hesse-Darmstadt at that time? Tks Nancy