I have my S-H ancestors' information on http://sdmbizlists.home.infionline.net/LotzGene.html I have found my great grandparents, Henry Lotz (b. 1845) and Geesche Mohn (b. 1845), on the ship manifests at the National Archives and am in contact with a distant "cousin" in Hamburg. However, I do not know where in Holstein Henry came from nor the parents of either Henry or Geesche. There is considerable information and pictures on my web site detailing my research and what I have found. This includes a probable brother of Henry's named Frank Lotz (b. 1843) and his family. Potentially valuable information is available about all these people in libraries in California. There are articles in local newspapers that have been indexed. Unfortunately a trip to California is about as likely as a trip to Germany for me. I notice .au and .nz return addresses. I have a picture of a boy about 4 or 5 taken at a studio in Newcastle, N.S.W. This came from the Lotz family album. There are no notes or annotations in this album so we don't know who most of the people are. This boy is likely a relation. The surname could be Lotz, Mohn, Diestel, Hansen, or Schrader, then again it could be something else. You can see the picture in the photo album in the above noted URL. Click on the picture of Henry and Geesche. Steve McLeod Broad Run, Virginia http://smcleod.home.infionline.net/ genealogy@broadrunit.com