I think Balthas is a short version for Balthasar (think of the Three Kings in the Bible), which also shows up as Baltzer in early Berks County records. Janet Binkley Oxford PA On Saturday, February 24, 2007, at 01:00 AM, paluzern-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:25:20 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) > From: "Bobbi" <MyFamilyTree@bellsouth.net> > Subject: [PALUZERN] German first name translation > To: <PALUZERN-L@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <45DF4DB0.000005.00288@YOUR-4DACD0EA75> > Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Hi all, > > I'm trying to determine the English or American version of the German > first > name "Balthas", and having no luck on the Internet. My ancestor left > Germany > as a child in 1852 as Balthas Goetzer with brothers named Jakob and > Josef. > The next record I find of the family lists only 2 sons, Jakob and > Paul, both > born in Germany. Would I be stretching things to assume that the Paul > in the > 1860 census was the Balthas who left Germany in 1852? Unfortunately, > there > were no ages listed for the family on the emigration record, so his > age in > the census (10) only tells me he was a child when he left Germany. > > Thanks in advance for your kind attention, > > Bobbi