Hello Marsha, You'll be glad you made this post. Kiraly Hotar Lehola is most likely the old Hungarian name Kiralylehota which is the the present-day Kralova Lehota (in the former Hungary county of Liptov). It was obviously spelled phonetically by the scribe. It is consistent with the other variation of "Kiraly Lehola" In all likelyhood all records refer to the same village. Use http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp to search for records the Mormons may have filmed. A quick check shows the 1784-1898 evangelical church records have been filmed. I would high-tail it down to your local LDS branch and order the films for viewing! This is your lucky break! You can search for people with similar surnames in the region with the online Slovak Republic phone book (beware, only 20% of all have phones) Use http://www.centroconsult.sk/Support/phone.html Strategy should be to search the entire region, starting from the ancestral and working out. Look for larger, industrialized cities. Many people have moved. http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/loctown.htm is a great map resource. It will take you to a mapquest map. Liptovsky Hrako is a small town where you might find more information. Your "vanc" surname looks like it was somewhat Americanized. I see a lot of 'VANCO' listed (VANCOVA is the feminine form). These "might" be related. Gather more info from the family history center, then consider sending a "blind letter." I can send info on how to write a letter when you are ready. A quick run of the name through www.google.com finds info about the village at: http://www.zip.com.au/~elanora/vah.html Keep following the links, you'll find much more. All of this at no cost to you! :) Now, for some general guidance: Very few folks make much progress by singularly searching for a surname. Name variations due to errors and overt changes are renown. Your key to success will be to identify the ancestral village. Most archival records are organized that way. The most reliable places to find the ancestral village is in one of the following documents, if they emigrated to US. a) Church (U.S.) records of immigrant's marriage or offspring's birth. (Actually immigrants as a group were more trusting of their clergy than bureaucrats and consequentially more truthful!) b) Social Security Application (if legally employed in US 1936 or later). c) INS File (Alien reports, 1st or 2nd papers, naturalization documents) d) INS Alien Registration Form (if a resident alien in the US in the year 1940 only) e) US Census from 1900, 1910 or 1920 f) US Port of Entry records, if you can identify date of arrival. Held by the National Archives (and filmed by Mormons). There is an index for records, organized by last name (SOUNDEX) referenced to date of arrival (records 1902 and later). www.ellisislandrecords.org contains a database and images of manifests from 1892 to 1924 from the Port of NY. 80% of all U.S. immigrants between 1892 and 1924 passed thru here. SOUNDEX is particularly useful in locating surnames that sound-alike. g) If all the above fails, consider looking at a present-day phone book. For Slovakia, see http://www.centroconsult.sk/Support/phone.html#codes Although descendants may have moved from the ancestral village, it is likely you'll still find some of them nearby. The LEAST reliable places to find the ancestral village are: a) U.S. Death Certificate - the information is only as good as the informant, who is many times uninformed or in error. b) Obituaries - For the same reason as (a). Well Marsha, it looks like there is enough free information to keep you busy the rest of 2002. Check back here when you have more questions! Good Luck, Bill Tarkulich -----Original Message----- From: Marsha [mailto:mstru@suscom.net] Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2002 7:36 PM To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Vance-Lethosky Hello, I am researching my great grand parents- I found information on the ellis island web sites. and went to the court house and got naturalization paper for only the one grandparent. FOR THE VANCES All I have is Mary (Ondrus) married Michael Vance, In Slovakia in Kolcov, with "hecek" above the letter c. They came to the United States around 1890 to 1894. They had 5 children- There oldest born in Slovakia the rest in Pennsylvania. Michael left his family in 1910, never to be heard from again. They never owned a house, nor are they on ellis island web site nor is there any Naturalization papers on them. Is ther a website for passenger lists that came into baltimore?? And what else can I do to find more information, on these hard to find greatgrandparents and there siblings. Most web sites have vances from England or Ireland- they are not.or could the spelling in Slovakia be Vanc??? FOR LETHOSKY. On Peter Lethosky it has him down as Hungary-Slovak He is from Kiraly Hotar Lehola I checked the ellis island web site, and his naturalization papers. I get more words and mispelled words, and you help with the name of his town, He came in 1902 or 1905 on the Kaiser Wilelm II, He was married to a Susanna Lehotsky in Kiraly Lehola. What can I do to get further a head in my research with out paying lots of money. I am checking out websites but i feel I just keep clicking and getting no where. Please Help. Thank You Marsha ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237