Elaine, Very interesting story. Yes, Marquardt (notice the spelling difference) is a German name that I've seen. When I saw your post, I thought, I wonder if she is from Port Hope, Michigan where there was a large Marquardt family since about the 1870s or so. Is there any chance for a handwriting mistake or error in interpretation with one of the records? Could the two names be Bruchesci and Brusk or more likely Kuchesci and Kusk? One of my ancestors from Konitz, a town of both Evangelicals and Katholics was Katholic and the surname was spelled Czyschkakowski (or about 23 variations). There was a time when the family name was shortened in West Prussia (now Poland) to Czysch or Czyschke. I also remember in Michener's historical novel Poland that a family had a longer name and then it was shorter or other other way around. It's a great read if your people were from that area of Prussia. If your Marquardt's are like the Port Hope Marquardt's, I would assume they were from West Prussia, Pomerania or Posen. It may be a somewhat common surname as I've seen it a bit so it may be further widespread than that. Good hunting! Dan ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.

HI Dan, I have to assume that it was in fact MarquaRdt, but was either misspelled or mis-heard and then written as it was heard. I really don't know what to make of the dicrepancy between BRUCHESCI and KUSC. The Bruchesci information was provided by my grandfather, whereas, Kusc was provided by my Great-grandfather, who would have been son-in-law to Kusc and Marquardt. So I would have to take his word over my grandfather who never knew his grandparents, as he was only 11 months old when the family immigrated. To my knowledge no one in this family with the surnames Marquardt or Kusc immigrated. I do know about shortened names......my Great-grandfather's name was Maleschefsky, but my grandfather, and father both shortened it to Mahl. Thanks for the help, Dan. Elaine On 5/29/07, DFantore@aol.com <DFantore@aol.com> wrote: > Elaine, > > Very interesting story. Yes, Marquardt (notice the spelling difference) is > a German name that I've seen. When I saw your post, I thought, I wonder if > she is from Port Hope, Michigan where there was a large Marquardt family since > about the 1870s or so. > > Is there any chance for a handwriting mistake or error in interpretation > with one of the records? Could the two names be Bruchesci and Brusk or more > likely Kuchesci and Kusk? One of my ancestors from Konitz, a town of both > Evangelicals and Katholics was Katholic and the surname was spelled Czyschkakowski > (or about 23 variations). There was a time when the family name was > shortened in West Prussia (now Poland) to Czysch or Czyschke. > > I also remember in Michener's historical novel Poland that a family had a > longer name and then it was shorter or other other way around. It's a great > read if your people were from that area of Prussia. > > If your Marquardt's are like the Port Hope Marquardt's, I would assume they > were from West Prussia, Pomerania or Posen. It may be a somewhat common > surname as I've seen it a bit so it may be further widespread than that. > > Good hunting! > > Dan