Well, thank you, Al, This is good! My little ancestral village is still there! Your description fits the map Burgert had in her book on the western Palatinate to include the number 420 highway. This is the right village. One of my ancestors married a girl from Rathsweiler and they went from Erzweiler to Ulmet to the "field church" to have their children baptized. Yes, the LDS libraries, aka Family History Centers, do have the church records, which I have reviewed on two occasions. The Thirty Years' Wars appears to have decimated some records during that time period because the Ulmet records begin in 1639. I have the "Palatine Church Visitation, 1609" Deanery of Kusel, translated by Ricardo W. Staadt, so there is that 30 year gap in the records. This book covers Protestant Parochial visitations. So, all I need now is someone who is in the area to take a picture of Erzweiler for me. Any takers? In appreciation for all those who have been so helpful, I will lookup names in the 1609 Palatine Visitations book. Contact me personally, please, if you choose to do this. Cheerful regards, Colleen ----- Original Message ----- From: Alfred J. Spiry SR. To: rpgillis@bellatlantic.net ;cme332@earthlink.net Cc: aspiryfam@fuse.net Sent: 8/1/2001 9:06:33 PM Subject: Re: [PF-L] Village of Erzweiler, Rheinland Pfalz Hello Colleen Bob: Unfortunately Bob is correct in that there is a village called Elsweiler. HOWEVER, the village of Erzweiler still exists and is located in the Rheinland Pfalz state. It lies north of Kaiserslautern, on Hwy 420 past Ulmet and Rathsweiler north of which Highway L169 goes NW past Wideralben to Erzweiler. So that both of you can locate places in Europe with ease, suggest you go to URL http://www.expediamap.com When it comes up, the very top gives you to get maps. Click on it and the second page gives you two choices. The first is for North America, and just below that you type in Europe, and the name of the town/village you are looking for. Click on the get the map at the lower left hand. The next page comes up with the name of the place you typed in, and a square below that with the various places that are spelled the same as the one you typed in, and others that sound like it. You click on the one in the box that is the same as the one you typed in. Click on the lower left hand button. The last page that comes up will have the map that shows (in this case Erzweiler). To the right of the map is a pyramid of lines with which you can zoom in and out on the map. By playing with it, you can get the proper perspective of the location of the town in relationship to major cities. If either of you have a problem with his let us know and we will talk you through it. We are glad that Colleen now has learned that the village of Erzweiler, is good and well. Suggest she go to the LDS Family Library Center nearest you and have them check to see if they have a microfilm of the church records. Also Colleen, you are right in that the book by Annette K. Burkett Vol. II is really great. We too found a couple of generations of our Spiry line. Regret that too many of the listers are using poor Atlas references which first of all fail to record the small villages, and secondarily lead to imagining what the searched for town could be. Everyone Good Hunting. Al and Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: "bob gillis" rpgillis@bellatlantic.net To: PFALZ-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 8:55 PM Subject: Re: [PF-L] Village of Erzweiler Unfortunately no one replied to the list so I cannot read the replies. I suspect the the village you want is Elzweiler about 7kM ESE of Ulmet. Send a message to geo@genealogy.net Elzweiler You will get location and political info. If it is part of another town today you will be told. bob gillis PS The year on your computer is 2000. Colleen Eagan wrote: Hello to all who responded to my Erzweiler query, Many thanks for your interest. This mailing list has a lot of very nice respondants and I am extemely appreciative of your help and suggestions. It's very possible the little village of Erzweiler has disappeared since my Doll ancestors emigrated in 1737 and 1739. If that proves to be the case, then a photograph is out of the question. I was incorrect in my first message and want to correct the location of Erzweiler. It is northwest of Ulmet or it was when it existed in 1737. In any case, there is documentation for its existence in the records, as well in a very good book "Eighteenth Century Emigrants from German-Speaking Lands to North America, Vol. II: The Western Palatinate," by Annette K. Burgert, [Birdboro, PA: The Penn. German Society, 1985]. For those searching for ancestors who came to the eastern areas of Pennsylvania from the western Palatinate, Germany may find this book a good resource. Burgert's research matches the immigrant's Pennsylvania records to the German records. She took my Doll line back three more generations. Again, thanks to all for your interest and suggestions. Colleen --- Colleen Eagan --- cme332@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. ==== PFALZ Mailing List ==== Going on vacation longer than 4 days? Go to http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/PFALZ.html to unsubscribe ==== PFALZ Mailing List ==== Going on vacation longer than 4 days? Go to http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/PFALZ.html to unsubscribe --- Colleen Eagan --- cme332@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.