I am asking for some help from those of you on this list. My mother has been asking me to help trace her roots. I have found a number of ancestors, but I am stuck on one line on an immigrant couple. My sister called yesterday (she and my mother are 1,000 miles from me) and informed me my mother has been diagnosed with extremely high (stroke-level) blood pressure and Alzheimer's. The good news is she still has good days, but the bad news is she refuses to take her meds. (This has been going on for months, apparently, but my mother has been ok when I've spoken to her). At any rate, I would like to be able to give her some news on this branch of her family -- it's the only place where I've been stuck, and she wants to know that info in particular......not sure why, except that it's her father's paternal line, and she was very close to him. I would like to get at least a little more info and send it to her while she can still enjoy the knowledge. My ancestors were Thaddeus STIFFEL and Catharine SNYDER (possibly Schneider and Anglicized to Snyder). Thaddeus was born 1822 and Catharine 1828, both in Wurtemburg. I am not sure when they came to Lancaster Co. or if they were married in Germany or the US. I have their children, etc., after they came. However, I don't have their parents or siblings or even a burial place for them (they may or may not have been Mennonite, but I've not been able to find them on the MENNO mail list or any Mennonite sites, microfilms, etc. that I've looked at). I know that (a) the birth years are probably correct, as born out by later censuses, (b) Thaddeus' father was possibly named Jacob, as their first son was named that, and (c) there were a Christian Stiffel and an Andrew Stiffel in Lancaster Co. a bit earlier than Thaddeus (he first appears on the 1850 census, Christian is on the 1840), but I have no way of knowing if there is a connection. I know families at the time frequently named their children after family members, but Thaddeus and Catharine had no sons named Christian or Andrew (although, to be fair, they had mostly daughters -- the boys I've found are Jacob, Augustus, and Abraham). I have looked numerous times over the years at the FHC here, but nothing has turned up. I probably will not be able to get back over there for a few more weeks (at least). If anyone can turn up anything on Thaddeus and Catharine and their birth families, I would be very grateful. I will be going at it ASAP at my end, but I know some of you live in the Lancaster area (Thaddeus and Catharine lived in Millersville), or might have more books, etc., than I do. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for any help. Robin Scharff Names connected to my STIFFEL line (working backwards in time): CARUTHERS, FOREMAN, MCCORMICK, BAKER (poss. BOKER)

Robin - another note Catharine Stiffel may have died before the 1910; she was not listed (Stiffel, Stiffle, Stifel, Stifle, Stiffal, Stifal) in the 1910 census. I found 17 listings (not Catharine) for Stifal. God be with you, Shirley __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com