Nancy, Despite your years of research on the Welter family, I'm sorry to say that it appears you need to do more research in American records before trying to find them in German/Prussian records. The simple fact that the only place origin you have for them is from family legend reinforces that. I would stop tying to prove that Grafsorms or Grafsolms is the village they came from, and scour and re-scour American records that would list the place of origin. Let the facts tell the story, don't let the story dictate the facts. Find in American records where the family came from and then pursue that locale. Many researchers believe they have found everything in the records of the immigrant's new country when in fact there can be more, sometimes much more, to be found. An item overlooked or put aside for another day and then never returned to. New resources never followed up on. We're all subject to this. None of us are immune. We all have loose ends in our research. Everyone. Wrapping up some of those loose ends, and possibly re-visiting select previous research can not only tidy up the large effort already put forth, but I suspect it will also confirm or refute the Grafsorms/Grafsolms legend, which is what you want. Good luck, LGO ----- Original Message ----- From: <erobin6886@aol.com> To: <prussia-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:50 AM Subject: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] graf solms/Welter GGP > Dear Listers, for many years I've been trying to trace my Welter family > back into Prussia They arrived in the US in 1853 according to census > records. Johann and Maria Christiana brought their five children to > Indiana. The children's names are Elizabeth, Christian, John, Emma and > Margaret and they ranged in age from 14 - 2. > > Family history said they came from Grafsorms or Grafsolms. I've been told > by German researchers that this cannot be a place name and even the LDS > Famiy History Library has not been able to help. We've found Kraftsolms > and that is the closest name. > > Yesterday, I found reference to Solms, Germany. Do any of you have > knowledge about this name? I found that it was first referred to in 1215 > but is currently a combination of small villages. I could spot it on a map > but couldn't find a way to learn more. I used Wikipedia and MapQuest. I > looked up Graf and learned that it means Count or Earl so that made Solms > seem reasonable. > > You are an active and helpful group. I've learned more about German > culture and customs from you than I knew after 12 years of research. > > Nancy in California >

Nancy, LGO is right.  I spent years trying to find my Prussian family, when a chance meeting with a distant cousin resulted in her having a birth certificate of her husband's father.  His mother was the sister of my g-grandmother, and she listed her birth place on her son's birth certificate.  Of course the town name is now changed, but, I found all the information through the LDS once I had a town.  Keep looking, those obscure records hold a clue somewhere. :-) BJ -----Original Message----- From: LGO ô¿ô <Le_Geefted_One@ix.netcom.com> To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 29 May 2007 1:52 pm Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] graf solms/Welter GGP Nancy, Despite your years of research on the Welter family, I'm sorry to say that it appears you need to do more research in American records before trying to find them in German/Prussian records. The simple fact that the only place origin you have for them is from family legend reinforces that. I would stop tying to prove that Grafsorms or Grafsolms is the village they came from, and scour and re-scour American records that would list the place of origin. Let the facts tell the story, don't let the story dictate the facts. Find in American records where the family came from and then pursue that locale. Many researchers believe they have found everything in the records of the immigrant's new country when in fact there can be more, sometimes much more, to be found. An item overlooked or put aside for another day and then never returned to. New resources never followed up on. We're all subject to this. None of us are immune. We all have loose ends in our research. Everyone. Wrapping up some of those loose ends, and possibly re-visiting select previous research can not only tidy up the large effort already put forth, but I suspect it will also confirm or refute the Grafsorms/Grafsolms legend, which is what you want. Good luck, LGO ----- Original Message ----- From: <erobin6886@aol.com> To: <prussia-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:50 AM Subject: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] graf solms/Welter GGP > Dear Listers, for many years I've been trying to trace my Welter family > back into Prussia They arrived in the US in 1853 according to census > records. Johann and Maria Christiana brought their five children to > Indiana. The children's names are Elizabeth, Christian, John, Emma and > Margaret and they ranged in age from 14 - 2. > > Family history said they came from Grafsorms or Grafsolms. I've been told > by German researchers that this cannot be a place name and even the LDS > Famiy History Library has not been able to help. We've found Kraftsolms > and that is the closest name. > > Yesterday, I found reference to Solms, Germany. Do any of you have > knowledge about this name? I found that it was first referred to in 1215 > but is currently a combination of small villages. I could spot it on a map > but couldn't find a way to learn more. I used Wikipedia and MapQuest. I > looked up Graf and learned that it means Count or Earl so that made Solms > seem reasonable. > > You are an active and helpful group. I've learned more about German > culture and customs from you than I knew after 12 years of research. > > Nancy in California > ------------------------------- 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 ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.