While I have a few brick walls, my Schleswig-Holstein brick wall concerns my maternal great-grandparents. Catharina Sophia STARKEN was from Hamburg, but I think more likely Neumunster, Born: 3 Dec. 1951 Died: 2 Mar. 1937 in Chicago, Illinois USA Parents unknown. Her mother may have married a second time to HOFELDT She came to the USA in November 1881, arriving in Chicago in time for my grandmother's birth on 9 Dec. 1881. Her husband, Frederick August KALBITZ was born in Gebesee, near Erfurt. Born: 23 May 1853 Died: 31 Dec 1927 In Chicago, Illinois USA He was a blacksmith by trade. Apparently he worked in Hamburg after he left Gebesee. Family story is that he left Germany one step ahead of being arrested. I have a copy of a paper from Erfurt, stating that he was banned from Hamburg and its environs for his political activities (Social Democrat). I have not found when he came to Chicago, but family lore is that it was a few months ahead of his wife. He set up a blacksmith shop in Chicago, later going into the manufacture of tools. The couple had three sons while in Germany: Frederick, Ernest and Herman. All three boys died before the age of 3 years, the last one shortly before Catharina sailed from Hamburg. In Chicago they had two daughters, Elfrida (my grandmother) and Amelia. Lois Mack Schill with another bigger brick wall in Elsass-Lothringen