This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: unclarity Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.wisconsin.counties.lacrosse/2728.1.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: you are welcome...I was hoping that was your Cristian/Christian that I saw in Holland. It made since that if it was this would be your Karl/Carl/Charles. Unfortunately I don't have ancestry.com right now either. I use heritagequest, but that can be difficult to search...you must have the exact spelling that the transcriber used or it will not show up. Perhaps someone here who has a subscription to ancestry will look up the censuses for you. I too have many ancestors from Norway and have found first name changes as common as last name changes. I have brothers where one took the family name, the other the farm name, and one took his dads (in Norway) last name...3 brothers, 3 different last names in America. One person was listed with 5 similar, but different first names. To bad they didn't know what these records would be used for in later years!!! There are a couple Carl Benson's and a couple Charles Benson's obits listed on the La Crosse libraries web site. http://lacrosselibrary.org/genealogy/ just type in the names and see...I have no idea if any of these are yours, but worth a peek. Kar Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.