Barb Rice's question as to why her ancestors from Pfalz and Rhennish Hessen chose to embark at LeHavre is a fairly common one on this list. I am not sure that this answer applies to her ancestors, but it does to two of my lines who came from the same area in 1831 and 1846. Most families in that part of Germany departed from Le Havre, France, as the Rhine was a difficult and expensive trip. First, the lock system in place today was not anywhere nearly as well developed. As a result, in and after a rain the river flowed so swiftly, boat accidents were common. Additionally, there was no Germany in the sense there is today. There were a number of duchies, principalities and other political divisions which extracted "tolls" (extorted would possibly be a better description in a few egregious cases) to permit boats to pass through their part of the river. This raised the cost of Rhine river travel. Beginning about the early 1830s a great deal of cotton was shipped from America to Le Havre and from there it was transported in wagons to Germany and points east. The empty cotton ships then took German and other immigrants to the US on the return trip. It was possible to rent one of the empty cotton wagons empty cotton wagons returning to the port to carry baggage and perhaps the wife and some of the smaller children. This trip could be arranged for a small fee and generally took about 12 to 20 days, depending on where on the route the passengers were picked-up. Most of the cotton ships went to New York and New Orleans. I do not know if this is true or not, but I recall reading once that this is the reason so many Germans who appeared to have no particular reason to go there, arrived at the Port of New Orleans. As I said, I don't know if the above applies to your ancestors, but it surely does to some folks on this list. Vincent Falter