Hello, My dear husband's great-grandfather was born in Brandenburg, Prussia, in 1837. His Brandenburg emigration record (as translated into American English by the people at Ancestry.com) says that his "Place of Origin" was Melzow and that his "Place of Birth" was Klinkow. I have found Klinkow to be about 95 miles from Berlin. And, I have found several places that could be "his" Melzow. Bear with me here, please. On a form, filed by his Germanic-born widow (in the United States) to request Civil War pension monies, his birth town is listed as Metz, Germany. As far as we know, the widow was never very fluent in American English. So, with her thick accent (which I am told she never lost) and her lack of Am English skills, maybe whomever helped her with the form thought what she said had sounded like Metz (instead of Melzow)?? I have so many questions that I hardly know where to begin. What is the difference (in the emigration record) between a "Place of Origin" and a "Place of Birth"? And, since (as far as we have ascertained) he and his wife did not know each other until they had both immigrated into the USA, isn't there the possibility that his wife had the "Place of Origin" and the "Place of birth" confused??? Just me... always searching for more answers. Leslie Kohler