I have been tracing my Karl WITTMAN / WHITMAN line for a while now and have, in the last few days, discovered a connection to New Ulm. The family immigrated in 1880, according to U.S. census records and church records in Germany. The first record I have of them in the U.S. is 1888 in Elgin, IL (marriage of son William). I have not been able to gleen any information on the missing eight years until reading John's (brother to William) obituary dated 10 Feb 1944.. It said, ". . . he came to this country with his parents when he was 11 years old. The family settled in New Ulm, Minn., and Mr. Wittman was raised there. He left Minnesota . . . settling in LaGrange . . ." Census records show they are naturalized. So far, I have not been able to locate these records in Illinois. New Ulm seems a good bet. I've looked at some online information for Minnesota but have not seen a source for naturalization papers. Can anyone on this list give me push in the right direction? Also, has anyone run across a WITTMAN family in their research of New Ulm or surrounding areas? Thank you for your help. Sandy Demlow Fort Collins, CO