This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/CGC.2ACI/696 Message Board Post: My line starts with Matthew and Elisabeth (Spanbauer) Blechel. Their son, Alois/Louis Blechel, was my Great Grandfather. He was born 1/29/1863 in Germany somewhere...probably the southern part. He came to the US in 1879, settled in Oshkosh at some point, married Mary Stieg on February 1, 1886, and they started raising a family..... Joseph, Frank, Louis, George, Edward, Michael, and Marie. Alois/Louis Blechel Sr. worked for the Diamond Match Company in Oshkosh. He and the gang moved to Duluth, Minnesota in 1903 where he was a superintendant at the Union Match Company. He lived in Duluth till his death on August 1, 1942. If any of this sounds familiar to anyone, please let me know. I haven't had much luck researching his siblings, but Oshkosh had/has plenty of Blechel/Blechl/Bloechls, and I'm sure my Alois/Louis fits in somewhere with somebody. Thanks in advance!