After the Napoleonic Wars the Germanic States made an effort to prevent future French invasions by assigning the smaller German territories west of the Rhine to the larger powers - Thus in the north there was "Rhennish Prussia" and farther south "Rhine Hesse" and "Rhennish Bavaria". On the census you will often find such areas listed for the foreign born (something like "Rhein Baiern" ) until Germany was united in 1870. Then most just said "Germany" My ancestor John Griess considered himself a Bavarian when he immigrated in the 1830's. When he became a citizen he renounced his allegiance to the King of Bavaria. However he never lived in modern Bavaria. He came from Kircheim Bolanden area west of the Rhein and so I need to research him in Pfaltz. This explains some of the confusion about the homeland of many German immigrants from the western territories. Barb Rice