In my line, it is my great-great grandmother, Barbara Metz (nee Karch) who emmigrated from Insheim in the Pfalz, near Landau with her eight children (two or three came over first). This was in the 1860's (1866?) after she was widowed. Her husband's name was Joseph Metz. He died in Insheim in 1862 of a bee sting. The family left because one of the sons was going to be drafted into the army. My great grandfather was Joseph Metz (1853). The other children who came over were Nikolaus (1842), Anna-Maria (1843), Barbara (1845), Elizabeth (1849), Rose (1856), John (1859) and Peter (1862). In adulthood, half lived in the Cincinnati, OH area, the other half lived across the river in Covington, KY. By the way, the daughters married as follows: Barbara married John Zimmer (they lived in Kentucky), Rose married John Strassel (no children, lived in Germantown, OH), Mary (Anna-Maria) married George Radenheimer (also lived in Kentucky), Elizabeth married Joseph Pontius. Of my ancestors in Germany, my great-great grandfather's name was Peter Metz who married Maria Josepha Buckel. Peter's parents were Andreas Mez who married Appolonia Schwein. Andreas parents seem to be Martin Mez and Magdalena Gademann. All of these folks lived and died in Insheim. The earliest date I have is for Andreas who was born in 1747. Martin and Magdalena were married in 1745. It's possible their birthdates predate the Catholic church in Insheim. Back to my Metz immigrants. From my research in the 1970's, talking with one of my grandpa's cousins, we know the two or three kids who came first lived with an uncle. We don't know his name, nor whether he was a Metz or a Karch, although I can find no record of any Karches here in Cincinnati, so I'm guessing Metz. My great-great grandfather had a brother Adam, so we think that might be who it was, because there are several Adam Metzes here in the 1860's. I've traced the descendents of these eight children, so I've got a handle on who were related to in my immediate line. It's the lines that shoot off from my third great grandfather, Peter Metz back in Germany (and the other families older than them) that I'm curious about. I'm copying this post to the Pfalz-L list on Rootsweb too. Stan Metts wrote: > Is there any way to document the original Metz / Metts who came from Europe > to America? There has to be a root person or family for each of the strains > of Metts/Metz. > > Mine is Samuel Edward Metts. He came from Metz, Alsase Lorraine, after a > falling out with a step-father. (No details or names on his home / family.) > > You can check out the line of his descendents on Rootsweb at the following: > > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dsmetts&id=FPMZUP > > Stan > > P.S. Sorry about the previous letter, It included stationery that came > through only as HTML or something. > > ==== METZ Mailing List ==== > Did You Know! That the LDS Ancestral File search site is now up and running at: > http://www.familysearch.org