I know I've said this on the list before, but you have to look at U.S. records to find them in Germany. The most reliable source I've found is in church records. Check the immigrants funeral record or the baptism/marriage records of their children. Church burial records sometimes contain an amazing amount of information, often written more like an obituary. The following is common in the funeral records of the church in Illinois that my ancestors attended. I've not found this church to be unique in this regard. "April 5th, 1913 Maria Schwier, born November 20th, 1829 in Hille, Prussia, daughter of Friedr. Burmeister and Maria Horstmann. At age 21 she married Carl Husemann with whom she lived 7 years and had 3 children of which, 1 son, is still alive. In 1863 she came to her brother Heinrich Burmeisters in Horse Prairie. On February 4th, 1864 she married Ernst Nagel with whom she had 1 son, August, who is still alive. 3 years and 2 months later her husband died. She remained a widow for 6 months and then married Friedrich Schwier who after 35 years, 1 month of married life preceded her in death. She died April 3rd, 1911 and was buried on the 5th. Age 81 years, 4 months, 4 days." Joel http://www.rafert.org/home >On Jul 2, 2009, at 11:43 AM, JB wrote: > > > Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions. I have > > copious info > > on Ferdinand and Anna's family here in the US. What I have not been > > able to > > find is where they were living in 'West Prussia.' Do you think the > > LDS > > microfiche might have more detail than just 'Germany' as > > Castlegarden and > > Ancestry have it? If so, I will pursue that path. Does anyone have a > > referal for a good professional German genealogist?