Hi Betsey, Anhalt was an independent German state. If you see on this map in Wikipedia you will see this duchy (and also the city of Bernburg): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhalt. It was a small duchy and since noboy in the new world knew it your ancestors might given their birthplaces as "Brandenburg", "Prussia" or "Germany" but these places were wrong. Biskirchen is in Hesse: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biskirchen I'm not sure if Biskirchen belonged to Prussia or not. Stefan (Rückling) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Betsey Cotter" <betsey@tarletonacademy.com> To: <PRUSSIA-ROOTS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 12:17 AM Subject: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] (no subject) >I need geography help. > > My second great grandfather Andreas Augustus (August) Pistorius and his > brother Augustus Andreas (Andrew) Pistorius emigrated to the US in 1855. > The 2 Pistorius brothers arrived at the Port of New York aboard the Union, > having departed Breman, Germany. They were from Anhalt-Bernburg and > destined for 'Newhaven' (Connecticut). Andrew (1827-1887) was a miner and > is accompanied by his wife Amelia Boenecke (1828-1913) and son Fritz > (1852-?). August (1829-1903) was tailor. > > In 1860, they list their origin as Prussia and in 1870, as Germany. > > Their granddaughter states they were born in Brandenburg. I believe there > is currently both a Brandenburg town and a Brandenburg (German) state. > > Anhalt-Bernburg (Prussia) is now part of Saxony-Anhalt (a German state). > > My question: is current day Brandenburg (town) in what used to be > Anhalt-Bernburg? Can anyone work out what city they came from with this > information? > > Another clue: August married Catherine Fischer (1824-1863) from > Biskirchen. I think they must have know each other in Prussia although > they married in the US. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >