Hi Everyone, Copied below is a note I received from Sharon McAllister, a CC in Indian Territory part of the OKGenWeb. I personally do not know the answers to her questions, but asked if I could pass this along to WI CC's for your thoughts. With her permission, I am passing it along. I am cc'ing her on this note so you can reply all, and she should receive. Sharon's pages can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~itsac/ Thanks, Tina _______ Subj: European Families WI to O. T. Date: 2/3/01 6:20:12 PM Eastern Standard Time From: CeilsCorner@cs.com To: WIGenWebProject Hi, Tina! I'm the one in the chat room this afternoon who threatened you with WI questions <G. I have a couple of fairly simple ones, but they will make a lot more sense if I give you the background first: We've been collecting information on the Founding Families of Luther for several years. I started by identifying all of the homesteaders who received the original patents in that township and the one immediately to the west [which was opened first]. Then expanded to include any families known to be in one of those two townships or one of the other seven that adjoin Luther in Territorial Days [1889-1907]. Then started including families in the surrounding area who were related to those in the Luther area -- so we are now covering northeastern Oklahoma County, southeastern Logan County, and part of western Lincoln Co. Of course, there was a LOT of intermarriage among the old families -- and I was pleasantly surprised by how many previous relationships we could identify and trace clusters to their former homes. Some are extended families. Some related by marriage. Some former neighbors that may or may not be related. The immigrants who came from the area then controlled by Germany pose a special problem, beyond the usual one of spelling variations for surnames. We have a group of families from what was once Galicia, who identify themselves as Polish. We have a number who identify themselves as Bohemian, others as Moravian. At least one as Hungarian. BUT some of the census takers had a lamentable habit of recording only "Germany", even if that particular area wasn't under German control when the individual was born. I'm in the process of re-working my separate pages to present a general one for the region, yet maintain any specific locations that are known. Sooooo...... Since I often can identify the state where one of these families lived before moving to O.T., I've been out surfin' the net looking for clues. I've pretty much struck out searching for specific surnames because there are so many spelling variations. I'm delighted just to find someone else researching one of these ethnic clusters in one of those areas -- even if we don't spot a link I may gain some historical insight. All of which brings me to my questions regarding WI before 1900: 1. Searching the GenConnect board for specific places like "Bohemia" has yielded little. "Germany" or "German" cover so much area that I could be missing that needle in the proverbial haystack, but I haven't seen any case where the general search has turned up information on one of these families that the specific search has missed. Is there some other term I should be trying? Something that might be unique to the WI area that an Okie wouldn't know about? 2. Do you know of anyone working on something similar for ethnic clusters anywhere in WI? My biggest problem is that I don't even have a county for any of these families. Thank you for listening! Sharon McAllister