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/4019.1 Message Board Post: Shanna, 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 you won't be able to proceed with any kind of German research before doing additional research in the U.S. -- (it can only be done of course in the U.S.) -- and finding out exactly which city, town, or village in the vast country of Germany the Vahldick famiy was from. Robert