Hello Ann - If I may, I'd like to clarify your mention of various spellings for the same family name. That was very common, and in some cases still is, in that one family of say, six sons, spells the same surname 6 different ways, or 4 different ways in one document for the same person. There was no single "correct" way to spell much of anything until around 1875-1900, because there were no rules, so we genealogists just collect them as they are, not as we in the 21st Century think they should be. You may also run into Hibbenmeyer (the b and p sound the same in German) or Hippenmaier, or Hippenmyer or even Hippenmaher or Hibbermeyer. You may also see chopped versions (Hippe, Hippen, or Meyer, Mäer, etc.) The sound is far more important for your research. In the early days, certain census enumerators were not permitted (!) to ask someone how to spell his name, so as not to embarrass anyone who was not literate - this, on top of a gazillion different Germanic dialects and some poor kid who knew only basic English just trying to do his job for $2.50 a week and getting yelled at by sometimes frightened immigrants (what does the GOVERNMENT want?) Maureen Schoenky, native of Kirkwood ************** Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)