Hello all, I am trying to research the path of my Kretzer family. My great-great-great-grandmother Pauline Kretzer was born in 1836 in a village near Zgierz and Lodz. She married Carl Hoffmann, born 1835 in Ciechanowiec, near Bialystok. At the time of marriage, Pauline was living in Ratowiec near Bialystok. Would it be correct to assume Pauline traveled from Zgierz to near Bialystok with her parents as an unmarried woman? The Kretzers were clothmakers. Would all the unmarried children of my great-great-great-great-grandparents be expected to relocate near Bialystok or would all grown children (unmarried and married) be expected to relocate? How would the clothmakers know to relocate to another city like Bialystok? Would the entire extended family be offered employment in clothmaking? Sorry if this sounds like stupid questions. I am trying to determine whether it would be worth my money to have Bialystok archives search for Kretzer in Bialystok evangelical lutherans records. I do not know whether Kretzer was a common name in this area for the German population. Vera