This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: Manatee3 Surnames: Graaf, Hartz, Lorentz, Tölcke, Kordts, Pawlowicz, Vogel, Tienelt Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.ceeurope.germany.schleswig.general/6434.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: My sister and I have received MANY documents by emailing to an archive or church in Germany but you do need to know what city your ancestors were from. They will charge you to look for the information and then to copy it and mail it. I have yet to find one who would actually email the documents they find. What we do is write in English (we don't know enough German to write in German) but we tell them that we do not know German and then we translate what we have written into German with the help of the online translators. We use Google and sometimes one other one because the translators are far from being perfect. When writing for the first time we also ask them to please let us know if we are writing to the wrong place and if so, if they can tell us where to write. We have always received a reply. I would suggest that you keep your sentences very short and to the point as the translators do a much better job with short sentences. Make sure you are very polite and thankful. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.