Dear Dennis Lohr, Thank you so much for your wonderful help. These are very helpful leads and links, and I will check on them as soon as I can. You are so right. Dennis, you must have a photographic memory. The Herbener family was definitely a devout Lutheran family, and in Germany appeared to have resisted the government religion. It is amazing how many of my ancestors and relations were pastors in America. And married pastors! My grandfather Herbener (from Mayville, Dodge County) married a descendant of Old Lutherans from Pomerania (via Watertown). Destiny. Sincerely, Katherine Willis Bellingham, WA ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.