This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Schenk Prawn Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/lEC.2ACE/1026.5 Message Board Post: My ancestors, Robert and Wilhelmine (Wilcena) Schenk, moved from Grant County to Illinois sometime before 1869. (They were married Dec 1856.) After a year, they were in Riley County, Kansas. By 1877, they were in Iowa. A few years later, they were in Kansas again, then Nebraska. (If you believe census reports) I could never figure out Wilhelmine's true birth name. On county marriage license, she is listed as Wilcena Prawn, daughter of George and Christiana Prawn. However, I cannot find a George or a Prawn that fits the spelling or variation of spelling in the 1860 Grant County census. Other county 1860 census on Ancestry.com did not yield results. If the county clerk misunderstood Wilhelmina for Wilcena, what was the original name that would have been guessed as Prawn? A later census states she could not read or write English (she emigrated from Prussia) so everything about her ancestry is up in the air right now.