Sandy, The key to finding and proving origins in foreign records is to find three things first in the records of the immigrant's new country; 1.) Name and birth date of the immigrant. 2.) City/town/village/dorf where the immigrant was born. 3.) Confirming information such as the name of the parents (preferable) or siblings. Having these works well in searches of rural areas of Germany, but is also necessary when searching large urban areas, too (llike Berlin). Finding this information in the records of the immigrant's new country is the most time consuming part of the search, not the search of records in the old country. It's a necessary part that far too many researchers avoid. I would say over 90% of the time all of this information can be found if the researcher is dilligent in the search. While it's tempting to try and "jump the pond" into German records once some of the three items are found, don't do it until you have all three pieces of data nailed down. You talk about writing to the courts in Ohio and possibly making a trip there. Don't do it. That's the hard way. Overworked and underpaid civil servants are not going to look for all the records of our ancestors as diligently as we are. They (agency employees) are not there to spend hours combing the records for a genealogist's ancestor, and field trips are costly and not always successful if the researcher hasn't prepared properly. The alternative is to make use of LDS microfilms (and a lot cheaper). An LDS Family History Center is always closer to home than a trip to another state. By renting microfilms at the LDS FHC a researcher can be as dilligent as they need to be in scouring the records for ancestors. They are much more motivated to finding them than those civil servants on-site. They are also not subject to time contratraints like they would be on a field trip. You spoke (in a later posting) of his naturalization in Lisbon, Ohio, as well as his residence in East Palestine. Don't focus on the city, focus on the county. They are both in Columbiana County, Ohio. Many more records containing our ancestors were created at the county level than at the city level. I bet you can find the declaration of Intent if you rent records at your nearest LDS FHC. LDS has microfilmed many records for Columbiana County. Don't forget searching church records. Those many times will yield the parent's names that you need in your search (see confirming information, above). Always exhaust the records created at time of death - there are many to review (that's surprising to some genealogists). Only after exhausting the LDS microfilms for Columbiana County should you consider a field trip there to search through what LDS does NOT have on microfilm. Once you have the names of the parents, you can go look for them in the Berlin City Directories (Address-Buch) which can be rented through LDS. That will help narrow down your search area in the Berlin records - the LDS Library Catalog shows over 50 areas that comprise Berlin. There is even a microfilm of a map of Berlin showing the different civil registration districts. You very well may need to use that at some point in your search. There is still much work in American records that needs to be done, I'm sorry to say, but be dilligent, work smart and that will save you a tremendous amount of time when you finally begin the search in the Berlin records. Good luck, LGO -----Original Message----- >From: Sandy Browning <ladyq@mowisp.net> >Sent: Mar 3, 2007 9:55 PM >To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Riebe name > >My great-grandfather is my "Brickwall". According to his death certificate, he was born in Berlin, but I have no idea what sector. I do not have a middle name, all I have is Frank (Frances) Riebe, born July 24, 1850. It is possible that he may also have had the name Wilhelm or Carl (Karl?) Unfortunately, all his papers were destroyed in a house fire some years back and the relatives that would have known something about him, have all passed away. Per, naturalization paper (a copy) he immigrated to the United States in November, 1871. Have not been able to find his Declaration of Intent. Will probably have to make a trip later to East Palestine, Ohio (where he settled, later moving to Alliance, Ohio, where he passed away in 1925. I have copies of the 1880, 1900, 1910 census records, but he is missing in the 1920 census records. My grandfather was raised Luthern. I have searched various spellings, such as Rebe, Reby, Ribey, Rabey, and such. Is there someone that ma! y! > give me the origin of the name Riebe? Any help would be appreciated, I am new to researching, and know that I have a long way to go. All census records indicate "Prussia" with various immigration dates. Have information on his family line once he was in the United States, but nothing previously. He was unmarried at the time he came here. >Thank-you. >Sandy Browning >Missouri, USA > >------------------------------- >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