Hi Jan, Saw your post on Backs in Saarland. Have you tried the USGenWeb site for Illinois? http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilgenweb/ Peoria Co. has posted quite a bit of information. Also, use IRAD, the Illinois Archives. I found these marriages listed in the marriage index: BACKES, FREDERICK & BIETEL, SUSANNAH PEORIA 02/18/1875 Vol.4 P./164 Lic #67 BACKES, NICHOLAS COON, ELIZA PEORIA 05/31/1871 4 /83 171 BACKES, PETER KRAUS, ANNA MARIE PEORIA 07/03/1867 3 /209 225 I've used the Illinois Newspaper Project, ordering microfilms of the newspapers and looked for the dates of marriages, deaths, births etc...often there were lenghty obits etc...giving family information, immigration dates etc...in the articles. Peoria has old newspapers microfilmed back into 1840's and forward. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/techserv/inp/webpages/main.htm You can write the archives for Peoria area (Western Illinois Univeristy) the address is listed on the IRAD website. They will search for free, possibly having naturalization papers etc...it's worth a try, I've found papers on several family members, however back in the 1800's there isn't much listed at times. Another option is ordering the microfilm from the FHC library for your surname of Backes. B-220 to B-241 FHL US/CAN Film 1432010 Soundex index to naturalization petitions for U.S. District & Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950 "The Soundex Index to naturalization petitions reproduced here indexes records generated by several courts. These include both civil and military petitions from the United States District and Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division; the Circuit, County, Criminal, and Superior Courts of Cook County, Illinois; and county and municipal courts in the old Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) District #9 (at one time called District 14), which comprised the northern third of Illinois, northwestern Indiana, southern and eastern Wisconsin, and eastern Iowa. The following counties are indexed: ILLINOIS: Boon, Bureau, Carroll, Champaign, Cook, De Kalb, Ford, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, Lake, La Salle, Lee, Livingston, Marshall, McHenry, McLean, Mercer, Ogle, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Vermilion, Warren, Whiteside, Will, Winnebago and Woodford. INDIANA: Benton, Fulton, Jasper, Lake, La Porte, Marshall, Newton, Porter, Pulaski, St. Joseph and Starke. At the Family History Library site: http://www.familysearch.org Hasborn has Katholich Kirche Hasborn (Hasborn-Dautweiler) on two microfilm: Parish register of baptisms, marriages, deaths, confirmations, family books, etc. Taufe 1779-1872 Kommunion 1835-1856 Konfirmation 1803-1868 Heiraten 1799-1873 Tote 1802-1873 Kommunion, Konfirmation 1865-1915 Taufen 1873-1902 Heiraten 1873-1922 FHL INTL Film 591215 Tote 1873-1907 Familienbücher FHL INTL Film 591216 My guess is they are written in Latin and your local FHC library has a great hand-out to help you with Latin etc...Germany etc...you will find so much information in those two microfilms. Werner Hacker has a book, through the FHC on immigration from Saarland to U.S. You can write Salt Lake and ask for a search. Auswanderungen aus Rheinpfalz und Saarland im 18. Jahrhundert (with index) Emigration from the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland regions of Germany. Names of emigrants are transcribed and listed alphabetically, along with their documentary sources. Information includes name, destination, place of origin, occupation, and those accompanying. Emigration is traced primarily to North America, the former Kingdom of Prussia, the Austro-Hungarian empire (especially Galicia), and Russia. There is a wealth of information on the German Genealogy website: http://www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html Check out the address's for archives in Saarland, Koblenz etcc..where you can write for information. Also, I have a 1948 Peoria phone book listing quite a few Backes, sometimes listing their occupations etc..if you have a certain name, I'd be happy to look.. Hope this helps! Karen Adams, Seattle