Dear Group - I have been corresponding with a real (as opposed to Pa) German from the German genealogy group. Originally it was a technical discussion of the problems of sending umlauts over the net, which I will spare you. But then he noticed my signature line, [FRANK, KELLER, PENROSE, SCHULTZ] and he said, "That feels like the area south of Darmstadt, I went to school with people with all those names except Penrose" [I know that Penrose is English]. Pause while I look up Darmstadt, which could be in Prussia for all I know. In fact it is just east (actually more north, in this area) of the Rhine, south of Frankfurt. So I explain to him that they are all 'Pa Dutch' and what that means and that I am a little uneasy because I have always heard they were from 'Rhineland-Palatinate', which is west of the Rhine, and Darmstadt is across the river from that. And here is what he said and I thought others on this list might be interested in it. I don't think he quite grasps that I have 4-5 generations in Pa still to go before I can usefully look in Germany, but this may be useful to some of you who are further along. [My comments in square brackets] > Rhineland-Palatinate is a post-world-war-II creation. Before that, it was > a Bavarian province in the south (about a cut line somewhere between > Mannheim and Worms), the Prussian Rhineland province (a/k/a Rhenish > Prussia), the Birkenfeld region was kind of extraterrestial [I assume he means > extraterritorial] Oldenburg > territory, and part of it belonged to Hessen, or previously to the Grand > Duchy of Hessen (with capitol Darmstadt) ... Even in today's Germany, that > ceded to the newly created State region within the State of > Rhineland-Palatinate is referred to as Rheinhessen ... So somehow, it just > all fits ... and if you make that "Darmstadt feel" become a > "Hessen-Darmstadt feel", then it matches completely. > > Actually there was quite an emmigration from that region. Dunno, if the > Hessian State Archives cover emmigration from Rheinhessen, too, but maybe > you should give it a try. The Darmstadt State Archive is responsible for > the part of the HESAUS project, which covers emmigrtion from Hessen > Darmstadt (which could refer to the current administrative district with > the State of Hessen, which is basically the former Grand Duchy minus those > left rhenish territories ceded to RPF -- an acronym for Rheinland-Pfalz, > or wqhich could refer to the total territory of the former Grand Duchy). > If you're lucky, your ancestors will be in the HESAUS II part of the > project (this is a computer based register). If not, they are in the > HESAUS I part (paper records). HESAUS stands for HESsische > AUSwandererliste (Hessian Emigrants List). > > Anyway, as there is a chance, that your ancestry came from previously > Hessian places, why not invest those 60 cents for an airmail letter and > the 1.05 dolars for an International Reply Coupon to send those Darmstadt > guys a letter and ask wether or not they cover the Rheinhessen region of > the former Grand Duchy, too with the HESAUS project? And also ask, what > the lookup fees might be ? I remember them as not too outrageous, > reasonable even in comperision to what time and costs it might save you if > they land a hit for you. > > The address of the Darmstadt State Archive had been posted in the > newsgroup [he means soc.genealogy.german] within the last two or three weeks ... I saw > it, but do not recall the precise address. [Neither do I]. Now isn't that interesting. Maybe it's even useful, though I think not to me, not yet. -- jan <janiceaf@ix.netcom.com> Interested in names: FRANK, KELLER, PENROSE, SCHULTZ