Kate - do you think that village name might be Soltau? I could not find anything resembling Soltrum in Meyers-Orts (1912 Gazetteer) but this place is in Hannover - a sizeable city of 5,000 a century ago. It is near Luneberg and Celle. On today's maps that would be Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony. As to Eickmann, there may be multiple spellings over time, so it will help to collect them all and follow the trail - there is no single correct version as we tend to think today. There were no spelling rules until around the time this lady was married, and it took some 20-30 years before those took hold, and some people just ignored those rules anyway. If you listen to the sound (the German sound), you will probably find Eichmann, as -ch- equals -k- (eiche means oak, a topographical name for those who lived under an oak tree or near an oak woods) Aichmann, also Flemish or Dutch, nearby, as Eike, Van Eyk, Eijk, Van der Eycke, Eyckman. The Eickmann spelling is Low German, Plattdeutsch, which fits the area of Hannover. Maureen In a message dated 9/26/2009 11:42:47 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Hi- I have a marriage application and certificate datd June 23, 1878 in Brooklyn, NY for a Meta Maria Eickmann from Soltrum(?) Hanover, parents were Friedrich Georg Eickmann and Rebecca Meta Behrens. I'm not having much luck finding information on the Eickmann surname, or on the name of the town. I'm wondering if someone could help me with a variation of Eickmann, and where would Soltrum be in the in the 1850s? I'm wondering if it was a question of a language barrier, and that the names are just wrong? thank you! Kate from Virginia ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message