Helen , Thank you so much for your help with my Hitaffers. I've been working on the clues you sent and so far have found some of my family , however as yet I have not found anything on the earliest I or anyone else that I know of has. This would be a John Hitaffer bo by 1765, living in Loudoun Co 1800. His son another John married Sarah Dutro 1817 . I beleive Sarah was bo in Frederick. Using the soundex for Hitaffer didn't seem to do much good. I did find a member of this family of the generation of my grt grandfather who was in the Civil War, spelled his name Hitaffer and his war record says he was bo in Germany. He was not. My husband was in the Army Air Force in W.W 2 and the U. S. Army had no record of this until my husband presented his discharge papers, metals etc. to them. So these records are not always right. Please keep me in mind for any new leads. God Bless You. Barbara