Dear MAUREEN ~ I appreciate not only this reply, but all the mini-lessons you are so good to give us. I copy & paste them for future reference. "----Original Message Follows---- From: Spaghettitree@aol.com Hi Julia - I cannot tell what Meier-Ewert means without any of the context - perhaps it is a marriage connection, or a change of name or perhaps, if around Ösnabrueck, a farm-name-family-name connection. Meier and Ewert are both German and can be of various spellings. Ewert is aligned with Evert, Evers. In Bahlow's book, Evers (Low German) 'son of Evert, in other words Everhart, also Ewers, Ewert, Lower Rhine Evertz. Enlarged forms are Evermann, Ewermann, patronymic Everling, Everding (Westphalia), short form Everke (Hanover 1348). The name Ewert in German, of course, is pronounced Evert." My GF came to Cleveland in 1891 as "Ewert", appeared on the 1900 & 1910 census as "Evert", and by the 1920 census the family was calling themselves "Everett" - a good example of the evolution of a surname, first by changing the spelling to match US phonetics, then a change to avoid anti-German feelings with WWI. Any idea how to get the FANA organization query replies? Are they worth the effort to buy or are the replies far too specific to apply more universally? Many thanks, Julia _________________________________________________________________ Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on MSN http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm