I was wondering if anyone else had ancestors or families they were researching from the Vechta or the area immediately outside of it that went to the Cincinnati, Ohio, Auglaize, Ohio, Covington/Newport, Kentucky and Oldenburg, Indiana areas. I have noticed in my research, a growing trend for people from this area. Here's some surnames with towns of origin that I have found so far (note: they may be in more small towns that I've identified as of yet, if you have additions, please do let me know): Behne - Steinfeld (Vechta) Beiderhacke - Holdorf (Vechta) Borges - Schwagstorf (Lower Saxony) Brames - Ostercappeln (Lower Saxony) Busse - Goldenstedt, Ellenstedt (both in Vechta) Fahrendorf - Salzbergen (Hanover, near border of NorthRhine-Westphalia) Franxmann - Ohrbeck (Lower Saxony) Fuehner - Lingen (Lower Saxony) Hartke - Schwagstorf (Lower Saxony) Heving - Ochtrup (North-Rhine-Westphalia - most northern part, bordering Oldenburg) Kroeger - Ellenstedt (Vechta) Meirose - Steinfeld, Damme, Holdorf (all in Vechta) Nienkamp/Neenkamp - Steinfeld (Vechta) Prieshoff - Fladderlohausen, Neuenkirchen (all in Vechta) Rabe - Steinfeld (Vechta) Schulte - Steinfeld (Vechta), Epe (Hanover) Stuntebeck - Steinfeld, Damme, Neuenkirchen (all in Vechta) Von Hoene - Bersenbrueck (Lower Saxony) Voss - Neuenkirchen (Vechta) Wieghaus - Neunkirchen (Vechta) Families I know are from Oldenburg but don't know town yet: Brokamp Kemphaus Kruempelbeck Meyer Thies or These Wehenpohl Wessendorf/Westendorf Families from Saxony: Dedden - Werdau Plaggenborg - Werdau Families that listed Hanover on census, but may be from nearby as they attended same church and intermarried: Bestermann Bohnen Borges Brink Bruns/Brungs Diehlmann Franxmann Gerke/Gerken - Pecitohl? Hoemann Meibers Mueller Peter Prieshoff Rowekamp Schriber Sprengelmeyer Thamann Wischer/Wisker Zumdick These are just families I have looked into. Most of them were on the Covington side, but a few of these can be found in Cincinnati. I also was looking through my Heving data (hope to have the family history out by mid May or early June) and noticed on the German Pioneer Society of Covington meeting sheets that many of the people listed were in fact listing Vechta or Oldenburg as their ancestral homelands! When looking through microfilmed church records in Covington I came upon many entries for individuals in Oldenburg, but if they weren't a family I was researching, I didn't take note of them. Online there is the Amt. Damme emigration index, which I have printed out. Many of the names I saw there, though not my own), I recognized from the Mother of God, St. Joseph, St. Augustine, and St. Mary's church records in Covington, Kentucky. It appears many people from the Vechta did follow a man by the name of Franz Stallo, who led his parishioners first to Cincinnati, then ! to Auglaize, Ohio. Apparently some people who originally came to the Cincinnati area with Stallo, did not follow him north to Auglaize, rather they stayed in Cincinnati or went across the river to Covington and Newport, Kentucky OR went west across the state line into Oldenburg, Indiana. I realize not all these people are from the exact same area, but there does appear to be atleast some of them that fit into a pattern. One of the days the list will grown, I still have many people in my PAF who are simply born in Germany. I don't doubt some of them are from the same area. If you have any contributions to this mini-research project of mine, please do let me know.

Can anyone tell me whether the names SOHNS, SOENENS, and SONNENS are the same name? We have heard various stories about the spellings of this name being interchangeable. Thanks, Janet Cassidy