Hi Listers Excellent information from Carla Heller at the Baden-Wurttemberg Mail list. Nan ````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Subj: [B-W] Helps for Pinpointing Ancestral Localities Date: 10/23/01 3:21:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: mscarlah@earthlink.net (Carla Heller) To: BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-L@rootsweb.com Dear Baden-Wuerttemberg List Friends, For those researching German ancestors, it is often very frustrating to try to pinpoint ancestral localities, or even verify that one is searching for the *correct* place name. If you are seeking an ancestral location, you'll want to research it carefully to see whether there is (or was): 1. MORE THAN ONE LOCALITY BY THAT NAME in Germany. For example, it's important to know that there is a "Frankfurt" in the state of Hessen [Frankfurt am Main], as well as a "Frankfurt" in in the state of Brandenburg [Frankfurt an der Oder]. Identically-named localities are common in Germany---and are often in different parts of the country, such as the two Frankfurts. 2. A LOCALITY IN FORMERLY-EXISTING OR RENAMED STATES: Don't forget that some parts of what *used to* be "in Germany" before one of the World Wars are now in completely different countries (such as Poland, Czech Republic, etc.). In addition, some former German states no longer exist (such as "Prussia," once a very large German kingdom encompassing territory in both western and eastern "Germany"), or are now known by a different or modified name. For example, Baden-Wuerttemberg is a post-World War II 'combination' of the previously separate-for-centuries states of Baden, Wuerttemberg and Hohenzollern. 3. A LOCALITY WHICH HAS SINCE MERGED WITH A NEARBY PLACE: Your ancestral locality may have become part of a neighboring town in more recent times, and is more readily identified now by the other town's name (a very common situation, especially for small villages). The search results provided by GeoServe (see below) usually will note whether such a merger has occurred, with the words, "Part of [Town X]" included in the text. 4. A LOCALITY WHOSE NAME IS SPELLED VERY *SIMILARLY* TO ANOTHER LOCALITY'S NAME: This can be tricky. One of my ancestral towns is D-i-e-d-e-s-h-e-i-m, Kreis ["county"] Mosbach, Baden. Before I got more familiar with German geography, I confused "Diedesheim" with D-e-i-d-e-s-h-e-im---a completely different place, not in Baden, but in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, and I later confused Diedesheim with D-i-e-d-e-l-s-h-e-i-m, which is in Kreis Karlsruhe, not Kreis Mosbach, Baden. These names look nearly identical, but if you read them carefully, you'll notice there are three *different* names. Also be aware that there may be archaic *spellings* for place names, such as "Wuertenberg" or "Wirtemberg" for the more modern Wuerttemberg/Württemberg. In this particular case, they refer to the same place. It is also easy to confuse the suffix "-berg" with "-burg" in German locality names, two *different* German words respectively meaning "mountain" [Berg] and "fortress" [Burg]. Note that these separate words are *not interchangeable.* If you think you're looking for a "HeidelBURG," or a "FreiBERG," for example, you may not find much information about them until you realize the correct spellings for each (Heidelberg, Freiburg). 5. A GERMAN STATE NAME WHICH IS SIMILAR OR IDENTICAL TO A GERMAN TOWN'S NAME: Many of you have experienced the confusion, for example, of the *state* of Baden with the *town* of Baden [the latter called Baden-Baden since 1931]. For basic help with that issue, you can see my Web page on the subject, "Which 'Baden' Is Which?" at http://home.earthlink.net/~mscarlah/ . 6. GERMAN-LANGUAGE PLACE NAMES WHICH ARE VERY DIFFERENT IN ENGLISH OR OTHER LANGUAGES: Did you know that the German state we call "Bavaria" in English is known as "Bayern" in German? Or that the region of "Alsace-Lorraine" in French is "Elsass-Lothringen" in German? Would you recognize the German names "Deutschland," "Schweiz," "Frankreich," and "Österreich" as Germany, Switzerland, France, and Austria? Be sure to make yourself aware of any 'foreign aliases' by which your ancestral town or country may be known. [I once tried to be very clever with this knowledge, and titled a travel class essay, "When Lunchin' in München, Please Don't Eat the Wieners" (i.e., "When Lunchin' in Munich, Please Don't Eat the Viennese.") München = Munich, the Bavarian city; Wien = Vienna, the capital of Austria---and "Wieners" are people, not hot dogs.] :-) * * * * * * * * * * * * Foreign location names can be checked fairly simply---with good online maps (such as at MapQuest or Expedia), geographical name searches using email (like GEOServe), and databases like Shtetl Seeker----the latter will even display names of places that SOUND similar to the name you've entered, and help you find a map to see the placement of the location to determine it's the one you want. You may want to visit the following Web sites for instructions and more information on basic geographic searches: Arthur Teschler's GEOServe (the Web page gives instructions----note that the SEARCHES are conducted by quick-return EMAIL, however---this search engine is limited to localities in Germany only) http://www.rootsweb.com/~deurhepf/geoserv.html JewishGEN's ShtetlSeeker Database of *European* geographic names, even for many tiny villages and hamlets (searches are performed on the Web page; *NOT* limited to German locations or Jewish 'shtetls') http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/loctown.htm MapQuest (to find and display a map showing your location of interest) http://www.mapquest.com Expedia Maps (to find and display a map showing your location of interest) http://maps.expedia.com Hope this helps! Wishing everyone the best research success, Carla HELLER, Los Angeles, California USA mscarlah@earthlink.net List Co-Administrator, ROOTSWEB'S Baden-Wuerttemberg Mailing List ==== BADEN-WURTTEMBERG Mailing List ==== Visit the Wuerttemberg Emigration Index Web Site: http://www.auswanderer.lad-bw.de/