>Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 15:42:28 -0500 >From: "JR Jamieson" <jr@jjamieson.com> >Subject: [ALL] Looking for a map of Prussia >My great grandfather Joanne (John) Bell indicated at the baptism of their first born son that he came from Wasllerfangen Rhenana Prussia. >I am looking for a map of Prussia from the 1880's and where that might be today. >JR Jamieson >jr@jjamieson.com >412 343 9264 Hi! First, remember that most records we find on our ancestors were NOT written by our ancestors, but by clerks, pastors, officials, teachers, lawyers, census takers, and others. Not only were the records written by others, but for the most part, we have no idea who gave the information! So your baptism record, perhaps written by the pastor or priest or church secretary or a nun, MAY have had information given by the father....but the town name COULD have been given by the child¹s mother or by one of the grandparents or who knows whom??? That said, I¹ve taken a look in my contemporary ADAC (German AAA) MaxiAtlas [scale: 1:150,000] to see if your Wasllerfangen might be listed in the gazetteer section. There is no town by that spelling, in the more than 90,000 localities listed. This does NOT mean there is no town of that name, just that this particular detailed atlas does not list it. HOWEVER, glancing down the page of alpha¹d locations I do come across: WASSERALFINGEN, now in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The town - about 3.5km north of Aalen ­ has a current ³zip code² [Postleitzahlen] of 73430. W-fingen lies east of the large city of Stuttgart and north of the large city of Ulm. You might be very lucky, depending on time-frame, since the LDS has two microfilms of Catholic Church parish register records from Wasseralfingen 1834-1902: Geburten [Births] 1834-1900 FHL INTL Film #936126 Heiraten [Marriages] 1834-1887 Tote [Deaths] 1834-1902 FHL INTL Film #936127 I do NOT KNOW if this village is the location you¹re searching for, but, were I you, I¹d certainly give it my first try! Good luck! Cari Thomas