Hello, Having been to the Resource Site and the Swiss Genealogy Site I come away very impressed, and a bit overwhelmed, by the volumes of information. I would be very grateful for some advice on how to best utilize the resources there, based on my circumstances. The SHORT story (see below for the detailed story): I am looking for a wealthy MEYER (or variant) or Von Meyer family living in Switzerland in the 18th century. A daughter of this family married, say, around 1720 -1750 a man who was a Meyer, or he may have taken HER name. Their descendants removed to Horn, Lippe (Germany) before 1807. I wouldn't think they were the connected to the 17th century Anabaptist MEYER families of Kempten and Bussenhausen, Pfaffikon, Zurich, mostly because those families were expelled or had left by then. They are my mother's family but that's another story. :-) The DETAILS: One of my most treasured possessions is a portrait of my 6 gt-grandmother. Along with her portrait, a few clues have also been passed down to me that may be just enough to identify her, except for her name. (Sigh) Family tradition is that my MEYER name was originally Von Meyer, ( yeah... right), :-) but even if not aristocracy, her family was obviously, based on her portrait, very well-to-do. The story is that she was a MEYER who married a MEYER. I am more inclined to think she was a MEYER who's groom took the MEYER name as part of her dowry agreement, a common practice in her day. Family tradition is that the MEYER's originally came from Switzerland. If this is true, it would have been before 1807. The earliest record, I have found, of my family (predominantly spelled MEYER and MEIER in the Church Books) is the marriage of my ggg-grandparents Philipp Ferdinand MEYER m. 4 Dec 1807 "Evangelisch Kirchen", Horn, Lippe, (now in Detmold, Westphalia, Germany), Amalia Sabine BRUEGGEMANN. I haven't found any record of their births in Horn so it is possible that Philipp was the immigrant. Would he have left when Napoleon invaded Switzerland in 1798 and established the Helvetic Republic or would that have been jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire? Philipp's family remained in the Horn area and I suspect that some of his descendants, including the MILLER and HAUSMAN families reside there to this day. His grandson, my g-grandfather, Henry Conrad (Konrad Heinrich), immigrated to NYC in 1871. I WOULD GIVE MY RIGHT ARM... I mean... I would be so grateful for any leads!!! Thank you! Yours truly, David, on the central coast, California, USA