At 01:47 AM 3/6/99 , DSore10588@aol.com wrote: >I have a German surname that I am trying to decipher. In the first >census >(1850) after the family arrived (1841) their name is listed as >URFF. After >that it's listed as ORF. > >One of the passenger lists gives a last name for this family that is much >longer. I have blown it up and tried to decipher it. The best I can get >is >UFROSUEI. Does this resemble any German surname that anyone has ever >heard >of? You might consider that the German "double s" is written as below in German: ss = SS = ß Sometimes researchers are confused by the and think it is an "f". You might look for URSS or URS, also ORSS or ORS. I don't know what to make of the UFROSEUEI. Are these immigrants Germans from Germany, or might it be that they are "Russian Germans" or "Volga Germans"? Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman Knoxville, TN