Have been hunting for GG-grandparents from Bethenhouser Froeing Reich Balin, Germany, they settled in Highland in 1847. Have found out a lot about 'Germany' in that era. Look online for a map of Prussia or Germany for the time you are talking about. There are several good ones. I have found out that the place I was looking for probably doesn't exist as named, but that the potato famine in 1846-47 was probably why a lot of people emigrated then......Loretta Harris [email protected] wrote: > Good discussion start. There are Bieserfeldt from west of Hamburg. There > are Borchward(t)s from Mecklenburg, east of Hamburg, and Burchhardt/wardt, > etc. from Baden and Wurrtemberg, etc. I am SURE there were family members > who followed up others here before them. Wish I knew where some of that old > correspondence might be; there has to be some! > > Cheers, Don Dickason from New Jersey. > > In a message dated 03/21/02 7:12:34 PM, > [email protected] writes: > > << Snipped . . .My Solter family came to Madison County from Prussia in 1856. > > Snipped . . .Is there a particular area in Germany which is heavily > > represented in Madison County? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > Phyllis, > > I've decided to take a stab at these questions, but I may stir up > > more disagreement than concensus. > > 1) Remember that Prussia in 1871 was a much larger place than in 1856, than > > in 1826. There is no significance in my choice of dates; I'm just saying > > there was a lot of "annexation" going on. You probably already knew that. > > 2) This is over-generalized, BUT . . . The Granite City area of Mad Co has > > a lot of Eastern European german-speakers, from places like Hungary, western > > Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and eastern areas of present-day Germany. > > Sort of the "Iron Curtain" countries. BUT, there are always exceptions . . > > . There are also a good number of Italians in Collinsville, and a good > > number of Northwestern Germans in Belleville (St. Clair Co). > > 3) So far, all of my ancestors from Eastern Mad Co (around Highland, > > Saline/Grantfork and into Bond and Clinton Counties) have come from > > Switzerland, Baden-Wuerttemberg (SW Germany), or Lorraine, with one from > > Luxembourg. You can imagine on a map of Europe how that's NOT really a very > > big area. But there are always exceptions . . . > > All that being said, I guarantee that EVERY State in Germany has at least > > some representation, probably every county. I would not narrow MY search > > based on any of this . . . My Grandma would say "Machts nichts", or "This > > amounts to nothing." > > Let the comments begin? > > Larry Wernle > > [email protected] > > >> > > ================================ > Don Dickason > Searching for family names: > Dickason, Hamilton, Cadwal(l)ader, Wisely, > Steinberg, Borchward(t), Biesterfeld(t), Blair > > ==== ILMADISO Mailing List ==== > Passenger Lists on the internet search: > http://www.google.com/search?q=Passenger+Lists&btnG=Google+Search