>My great grandfather was Jacob B. Utsinger. He was born on 15 February, 1857. On his death certificate in 1938, it states he was born in "Martinsville", Germany and that his mother was Eva Maypryor. Obviously, both the location and mothers surname have been Americanized. > >Any clues on where and how to proceed to find the German name of Martinsville? Jacob immigrated to the US in 1857 at the age of 3 months with his father, Adam or Johann, and his mother above. This is going to be a semi-educated guess... ville = weiler in German. The weiler suffix appears primarily in southwestern Germany. I would try Martinweiler or Martinsweiler. The town may not even exist, but it's worth a try. Joe (a descendent of Michael Trierweiler and Maria Longen of the District of Trier, Germany) -------------------