Here's another version: I suspect that the area of research is just to the north of Pirmasens/Pfalz as I have seen the capitalised abbreviations used for the names of the following villages in this area. Herm. = Hermersberg Rod. = Rodalben Wfb. = Waldfischbach Bu. = Burgalben KL. = most likely Kaiserslautern (a city to the north of the above villages) as for the other words, beide = both led. = ledig = unmarried, single vorehel. = vorehelich = pre-marital Soldat b. Napoleon = Soldier with Napoleon Wo? = where? and the remainder are professions Wagner = coach builder, wagon maker Schäfer = shepherd Zimmerm. = Zimmermann = carpenter Holzmacher = timber cutter e.g. for firewood Acker. = Ackerer or Ackersman = farmer Well that's my two cents worth (Aussie cents = worth less than the US version). Manfred.