Tom; You may find relatives in that civil registration record, just as you mentioned. But also -- there may be other possibilities in the LDS films, etc. Sometimes, civil registration was replaced by church records. Even if there are none otherwise which show for Gesmold, you might want to see if any of the nearby villages do have church records that have been microfilmed. In German research, I have run into a couple of similar situations that seemed to be dead ends, but since I was actually in Salt Lake City, I was able to talk to their German helpers who do the translations, etc. and on more than one occasion have found the records were actually kept in nearby towns, parishes, and so forth. People did not always have a church available, or did not want to attend that one, and went elsewhere if they could - depended on transportation. Get a good map of the area showing Gesmold and see if the Family History Library catalog shows resources for those villages. Best wishes, Ann Bergelt **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850)