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/4017.1 Message Board Post: Dee, this is just a bit of background information: Steinhude was located in the former District (in German: Kreis) of Stadthagen in what was until 1945 the very small state (until 1918, Principality) of Schaumburg-Lippe, the capital of which was the city of Bückeburg, or if written without the "Umlaut" (two dots) over the "u", Bueckeburg. Schaumburg-Lippe was a tiny state, covering an area of only about 130 square miles and never having had a population of more than 50,000 people. Following World War II and the break-up of the huge state of Prussia (in German: Preussen; capital: Berlin), the Prussian province of Hanover, the state of Oldenburg, and the two very small states of Brunswick (in German: Braunschweig) and Schaumburg-Lippe combined to form today's German state of Lower Saxony (in German: Niedersachsen), with the city of Hanover (in German: Hannover) as its capital. Steinhude is no longer an independent town. In 1974, Steinhude was annexed by the city of Wunstorf. Wunstorf is a city of about 42,000 people, of whom about 5000 live in Steinhude. I should add here that Wunstorf was not in Schaumburg-Lippe. Wunstorf was located in what was until 1866 the neighboring Kingdom of, what was from 1866 to 1945 the neighboring Prussian province of Hanover. So although Steinhude is now part of Wunstorf, until the creation of the state of Lower Saxony following World War II, Steinhude and Wunstorf were in two different states. You might find the following website useful: http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/NSAC/SLP/ Robert