This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Straub, Stroub, Van Stroub, Von Straub Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/0IQBAEB/45.62.63.64.1.2.1 Message Board Post: ST. ROB! Well, that's a new one! STRAUB, STRAUBE, STROUB, and VON STRAUB are Germanic surnames. STRAUBE, which is much less common than STRAUB, originates mostly from northeastern Germany, especially in and around Berlin. Most STRAUBs originate from southern Germany and Austria, the adjacent German-speaking region of Switzerland, and the adjacent ethnic-German enclave of Alsace-Lorraine in France. A much lesser number of STRAUBs originate from ethnic-German enclaves in Hungary and western Russia. Yours is the first instance of VAN STROUB I've seen, and I've yet to come across a VAN STRAUB or a VON STROUB. A check of Yahoo People Search shows there are currently no VAN/VON STRAUB/STROUBs listed in the U.S. A check of the AIS Census Index, which indexes nearly all pre-1860 censuses and many 1860-1880 censuses, also shows no VAN/VON STRAUB/STROUBs. STROUB is uncommon compared to STRAUB and is usually a phonetic misspelling derived from STRAUB. The VON/VAN versions are (obviously) very rare compared to the non-VON/VAN versions. You can check these large databases for the surname to get a feel for what is common: http://www.familysearch.org http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi http://www.genealogy.com/ Be sure with FamilySearch to check the box, "Use exact spelling." As for helping with your grandfather, we'd need as much of the following additional information as you can supply: his name his date and place of birth his date and place of death the name of his wife the location of "Stroub's Oyster Bay Restaurant" The first documents you need to acquire are the death certificates of your father and his parents. These usually give, in addition to the dates and places of birth and death of the decedant, the names and birthplaces of the decedant's parents. I have a good deal of information on STRAUB/etc. at my web site: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/Straub/StraubHome.htm but most of what I have is pre-1850 and nearly all is pre-1900, so you'll have to get back a generation or two more before you are likely to hook into any line there. Good hunting.