This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/RO.2ADE/77.1 Message Board Post: I'm sure the Kraus name is very popular and found the world over. But I just thought I'd mention that some Kraus/Krause they were friends and possibly spouses to some of our Kotlowski, Rode/Rhode/Rohde and Trep/Treppe/Trepski/Treppkowski (among other variations) families from the Danzig area of 1800-1900 West Pressein, Germany (now Gdansk, Poland), on the coast of NW Poland. There were a lot of Kraus/Krause in the 1800-1900 records of the Oliva Church at Oliva-Danzig (now Oliwa-Gdansk) and in the civil records of Zoppot just north of Danzig, now named Sopot. These church and civil records can be found in the films of the LDS church's Family History LIbrary. If you already have your family back to the early 1700's, long-shots into the 1800's aren't that valuable to you now. But thought I'd mention it just in case. About one year ago, one desperate email sent to 5 randomly selected Kotlowski in Europe, got me in touch with a priest Kotlowski near Gdansk, and in his first reply he included the first European birth record we ever had on any of our ancestors. Who knows!