Many thanks, Gary. I've checked a number of the things you mentioned. I appreciate knowing that the marriages are recorded with the Ogle County Clerk. I'll check that one. Otherwise, the man seems to have left little trace. He was hired help, so owned no land until he got to NE. He was a charter member of First St. Paul's Lutheran in Hastings, but if he attended a Lutheran church in IL, he didn't do anything to get into the records. His obits led me to a brother in CA, but don't give his birthplace. We were in Aurora last summer. My husband's son lives there. Thanks for your help, Marilyn Stulken Racine, Wisconsin