In a message dated 9/14/02 18:04:46 EST, "sharjimbreslain" <[email protected]> writes: In records here in USA, my Cross family also was spelled Crofs. Does anyone have any clues as to the name that this may have been in Germany Likely the name in hand script looks as if it is spelled Crofs. However, before about 1850 in the U.S. and before about 1890 in Europe, a double S in script used two different sizes of S. The first S in the pair looks like what is a lowercase f to us today. Thus the spelling is actually Cross in all your American sources and in the European. Thomas Kohn