In January 2002, I spent a week in the Kraichgau, a region just east of Karlsruhe. I had details of my wife's ancestors in the towns of Gondelsheim, Menzingen and Weingarten back to about 1695 but the line disappeared at that point. I visited local historians and connected with some who maintained that many of the people came to this region from Switzerland. Much of this part of Germany had been depopulated in the 1600's due to war, famine and plague. The local aristocratic families begged anyone to occupy the land and many came from Switzerland. I started to search in Switzerland and I have found exact matches for some of my lines where the names of parents and children and birthdates match up. This has allowed me to push back another two or three generations. I still have several lines to search. I can send you a summary of my trip to Germany and who I met with. I didn't find much at the Landesarchiv in Karlsruhe, but I was very impressed with the extensive nature of its collection. If you know the town names of where your people landed in Germany, you will no doubt be able to find lots of information using the LDS Family History Center near you to get the microfilm. Regards, Paul J. Rands near Portland, Oregon _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com