Bonnie, You mention the use of Johann on the manifest and Poland-Russia as place of birth. I suspect he could have come from the area known as Congress Poland in his time. This area was under Russian influence and also had many pockets of German origin residents. Hence the name Johann - a German influence. Rose ---- Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 12:51:19 +0000 From: bonnie.mcneill@comcast.net Thanks. I am glad to see that Jochan is unlikely and probably an artifact from bad handwriting on the birth certificate of his son. I have seem him as Johann (ships record) and John (census). I will pursue the marriage certificate as I have had a dead end on naturalization papers in Williamsbridge, NY before 1900. Postings say that there were various courts and county changes at the time. The Castle Garden record lists him as Johann Bennerich (that is the closest I can find) with the ship's origin of Germany. There are no miliary records that I can think of between 1884-1912 (immigration-death). Census records he is in include 1900, 1905 and 1910. I have contacted living relatives and don't find anything more. Most documents I find say Poland or Poland-Russia as place of birth. I guess I was hoping for a link of location to surname. I find Bieniewicz uncommon and frequently h orribly misspelled (which I would guess is very normal for Polish names). I started a surname message board on Rootsweb and so far I am only post.