This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/ZVC.2ACE/4070.1 Message Board Post: Kurt, first, Germany, like the U.S., has always been made up of states. Vital records are not and never have been kept at either the national, state or provincial level in Germany. In Germany, vital records are kept strictly at the local level. So before you can proceed, you are going to have to do additional research in the U.S. and find out exactly which city, town or village in the state of Oldenburg the couple you are interested in were married in. What was their religious denomination? Robert