I now know for sure that my ancestors (great-great grandfather and great-great-great-grandfather) held citizenship in Straubenzell. I have a couple questions about that: 1. It is my understanding that Straubenzell no longer exists but that the area which used to be Straubenzell is now the western part of the city of St. Gallen - am I correct about that? 2. What was Straubenzell - a city? a canton? 3. For my g-g-g-grandfather to have held citizenship in Straubenzell, wouldn't some ancestor have had to have lived in that area originally to have initially established that citizenship? I know that my g-g-grandfather was born in Rorschach (1836) and have been fortunate enough to find his baptismal record, a report card for his attendance at a school in Rorschach, and a record of him depositing his Heimatschein in Rheineck for a few years prior to emigrating to the US. I am now trying to determine where my g-g-g-grandfather was born (1801). I do understand that where he holds citizenship may be totally unrelated to where he lived. However, several of the documents I have say "von Bruggen" on them. I have been told that Bruggen could have been used interchangeably with Straubenzell, thus this is just an indication of his citizenship in Straubenzell. Could it also be an indication that he moved to Rorschach from Bruggen, and therefore Bruggen church records might be a good place to look for his baptismal records? Thanks in advance for any information, suggestions! Patty in Colorado, USA