I have done some research using the Germans to America printed volumes, the FTM CD transcription of G to Am, and the microfilmed manifests at NARA. It is my understanding that G to Am used the manifests in Europe and not those in the U.S. as a source. Does anyone know for sure about the G of Am source? This may be important as the manifests for Bremen were destroyed in WW2 and only the Hamburg manifests still exist. NARA, of course, has the arrival information. Germans to America does not cover dates before 1850. The National Archives does NOT have an index for New York passengers for the years 1847 to 1897 so Germans to America is likely the only source for these years. If you know the date and port of arrival then you can find the manifest at NARA. The FTM CD has all individuals sorted by surname while the printed volumes are by year so each has some utility. But you still need to look at the original manifest to be sure you have the right person or family. My great grandfather, Henry Lotz, died just months before the 1900 census so I don't have an arrival year. H., Henry, or Heinrich Lotz is not an uncommon name so I had many candidates even after narrowing the years down based on birth date and census. Henry is in the 1880 California census and his wife, my great grandmother, Geesche, is in the 1900 census. However, they met and married in San Francisco. I've found a prospective brother of Henry's, Frank Lotz, in the 1880 California census who is also in the 1900 census and that supplied a year and I found H. Lotz and Fritz Lotz in G to Am and in the NARA manifests leaving Marseilles on different vessels and arriving in New York only ten days apart in 1865. The census is the only indication I have that tells me they were from Holstein. It is important to find the original manifest so you can see who else was on the vessel. This might provide more family members and this can confirm that you have the right person from G to Am. I have a large number of Swiss ancestors from Canton Bern. These are also in G to Am. I found several in the FTM CD and thought I had a match, but when I looked at the NARA manifest it was obviously a different family; same surname and many of the same first names but the ages and many of the siblings did not match. I did confirm many of the Swiss ancestors as a whole group arrived together in New Orleans. Finding one of this group in G to Am and then looking up the NARA manifest for that person, supplied a couple dozen more people that I was looking for. I have the FTM CD of G of Am for 1850 to 1874. I don't have the second disk for dates after 1874. I don't have access to the printed volumes, at least not easily, as I would have to go to the Library of Congress to see these. I have to go to the Archives for the manifests. Trips to downtown D.C. do not occur often and I tend to have a long list of to-dos. One thing I found in these trips is the use of the copy machine. It is a lot faster to make copies of census sheets at NARA and pages from books at the LC than to try to transcribe them on the spot. The study and transcriptions can be done later at home when time is not as constrained. You can find more detail at: http://sdmbizlists.home.infionline.net/LotzGene.html and http://sdmbizlists.home.infionline.net/SchindlerGene.html Steve McLeod Broad Run, Virginia http://smcleod.home.infionline.net/ genealogy@broadrunit.com