In a message dated 5/25/00 2:27:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, larmil-1@att.net writes: << I am by no means an expert. I believe many of our ancestors who arrived in the 1700's actually came from the Netherlands - that is where the ship departed, not where they actually lived. Where they actually lived was in that particular part of Europe. As I understand there was no Germany at that time. A number of my ancestors were from the Rheinland Pfalz (Rhineland Palatinate) area of what is now Germany. The confusion of origin is not unusual. In other lines (not PA-Dutch) I have ancestors who were thought to have come from Great Britian. Further research revealed that they came from mainland Europe with a stop in Britain. >> Hi Larry, I enjoyed your comments. And you are right. MJ