Would SKS please assist. I am trying to find a site or person who may have knowledge of a ship called the Minerva, under a Captain Spurrier, which sailed from Rotterdam, then to Cowes, then to Philadelphia in 1767. This ship carried my ancestors out of the Palatines and on to the New World. Aboard her, were Johannes Georg Opffer, [w] Elwyn Simons, [c] Catherine, and John. It is believed that when they reached Philadelphia, and before they reached their homestead in upper New Jersey, that the surname had changed to Upper...John George Upper...and then to George Upper. Al Dempster [OPPER, OPFER, OPFFER, UPPER, and variations] -- GOD IS WATCHING YOU, SO MAKE IT A GOOD ONE! Visit: www.myfamily.com for the latest in our Family's genealogy. An ancient philosopher once said, "When here is there, and there is here, the picture is more confused, and the idea is less clear." "Whoever sees evil around him, let him change it first with his hands, then his tongue, and if it has not been affected, lastly with his heart." Paraphrasing from the Book of Islam.