Hello Listers - While the inference above seems improbable, to me as well as to most of you, I've had to entertain it as a possibility regarding the emigration from Kanton Sank Gallen of some of my direct ancestors. You will see the particulars below. My question to the list is - has anyone else run into this practice? Two parties of the ZELLER family left Le Havre on 26 May 1845 aboard the Swanton, which docked in New Orleans on 21 July 1845. One party including my great great grandmother - Maria Anna Francesca ZELLER. That party is listed as incluyding - (with ages) - Joseph (38), Georg (blank), Francis (16), Maria (15), Josephina (14), Relkina (= Regina - 12), Francisca (4) and Franz Xavier (3/4). The youngest - Franz Xavier was actually 7 months of age when the party left Le Havre. The other party - led by the uncle of my Joseph ZELLER - consisted - according to the passenger list - of the following: Francis (60), Johann (50), Sebastian (12), Barbara (9) and Elizabeth (8). In both cases, the people listed comprise an entire family with the single exception that a second adult male appears on the list instead of the spouse. Joseph's wife was Frances SELINER (age 40); Francis' wife was named Anna Maria MAIER (age 50). Regarding the first party - the family led by Joseph - their exists the possibility that the Georg listed was the father of Josepf. Johann George ZELLER was aged 70 in 1845 and died back in Schaenis in 1848. It is possible, I suppose, that the father/grandfather escorted the family to New Orleans and then, at some point, returning to Switzerland. This, of course, does not explain the absence of the wife/mother - particularly remarkable given the age of the youngest child. Regarding the other party - the family led by Francis - I have searched the Schaenis church records at length and have not been able to find another Johann ZELLER within the indicated age bracket. Both familes were united and living in St. Clair County, Illinois by the time of the 1850 federal census. The first family - that of Joseph and Frances - had a child Caroline, born in St. Clair County on 2 December 1846 - which would mean that the family was reunited by early March 1846. One other item of note. On the same page of the Swanton's passenger list, there is a party comprised of Pierre EBERHARD (31), George (32), Johan (4) and Marc (1). The Eberhard's were a interretalted family from the same hamlet of Winklen - with the larger community of Schaenis, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland from which originated the ZELLER family. As for the list itself, the writing is quite legible and the other information on the two ZELLER families is complete and accurate with the exception of the spelling of the one child's name. I have combed, via the ISTG site at Rootsweb, all other ships arriving in the US between July 1845 and March 1846. I realize that this listing is incomplete and that I still have work to do when and as I find other lists. That notwithstanding, I'm led to entertain what seems to me to be the strong possibility that Georg and Johann were, indeed, Frances and Anna Maria - travelling under the guise of being male. I realize that, for a variety of reasons, people travelled under assumed names - but I have never come across reference to people travelling as members of the opposite sex. Thank you for bearing with me. My question, again, is - is there anyone out there who has come across similar occurrences? Does my deduction appear implausible? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Jim Schneider