Dear Deborah! I plan on posting an entry soon on my Köhler ancestors... but I wanted to respond to this Email. You appear to not know the birthdate and birth location of your immigrant ancestor and this should be relatively easy to determine. For you (and anyone else), whose ancestors immigrated to the US in the early 1900s, you have two great resources at your disposal: 1. the National Archives maintains copies of the ship manifests that list all immigrants to the US. You can request a search of the indices and for $10, you can get a copy of the page where your ancestor's name appears. The entry lists the person's age, residence (in Europe), US residence, and often birthplace. After the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, each immigrant had to apply for an Immigration Visa from the INS. Thus, after 1924, the ship manifest also contains this Visa information. 2. the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service) maintains records on all immigrants. The INS was founded in 1906, so any naturalizations before that date are not stored there. You can write to the INS and receive copies of the citizenship file for your ancestor, and, for those who immigrated after 1924, you can also get a copy of the Immigration Visa file. EXAMPLE: My grandparents, Karl Ludwig (his mother was a Köhler) and Gertrud Schulz emigrated from Germany in 1925/1926 respectively. My grandmother was born in Schlawe/Pommern and all civil records were destroyed there in 1945 (WWII). When she applied for her visa to the US, she had to submit a birth certificate, and I received a copy of it when I requested her immigrant visa file. Unbelieveable--this was the only source where I was able to get a birth certificate for my grandmother! don ludwig ------------------------------- (Embedded image moved DJKoehler@aol.com to file: 06/23/98 05:18 AM pic22451.pcx) To: KOEHLER-L@rootsweb.com cc: (bcc: Donald Ludwig/AMS/AMSINC) Subject: [KOEHLER-L] KOEHLERs from Hanover Hello all! I am new to these kinds of lists, and I understand this is a new list, but I suppose everyone posts their ancestors? "My" KOEHLERs are: William (Wilhelm?) KOEHLER b abt 1872 in Germany m Sophia Came to NY in 1904 1920 Census lists him as a machinist in Queens Co., NY Reportedly buried with wife in Lutheran Cemetery, Middle Village, NY Children of William & Sophia KOEHLER William C. KOEHLER, Jr. b May 1896 in Hanover, Germany m Alwine Lena Catharine (aka Lilly) Blumenberg in Woodhaven, LI, NY d 5 March 1978 Frieda KOEHLER b abt 1899 m William WAGNER Marie KOEHLER b abt 1901-2 never married Deborah Sheldon-Koehler DJKoehler@aol.com Finding family facts for: BLUMENBERG & KOEHLER (Germany to USA) BAGSHAW & SHILLITTO or SHILLETO (Rotherham, England to USA) ROBINSON (Masborough, England) & METCALF(E) FANCHER (Danbury, CT), GREULICH & SHELDON (New Haven, CT) ==== KOEHLER Mailing List ==== If you need the list owner, send email to <ShandyBeast@starlink.com> Leslie (Bridges) Kohler