Hi Anna,
I see your plight and have read your requests on the Archives from 1998, and
also on Ancestry.com message boards.
You are correct, without knowing a town name in the old duchies of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin or Mecklenburg-Strelitz, you are potentially "up a creek without a paddle".
Like others have suggested to search for all Ehlers in the 1819 census, then you
would have to search each parish for his birth...very time consuming.
I think you should ask everyone that has parish records in Mecklenburg to do
a look up for you from the years Dec 1823 through Dec 1825, just so they
capture a 2 year period around Hermann Heinrich Ehlers' birth date of 12 Dec 1824.
By the way how did you get his birth date?
I also think you should post this request at Ancestry.com in the Mecklenburg-
Vorpommern list at:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/localities.ceeurope.germany.mecklenburg.mecklenburg-vorpommern
To get the ball rolling I have 2 parishes on microfilm and have looked at Satow,
and the Neukirchen parishes of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin for you for the periods
of Dec 1823 to Dec 1825.
Neukirchen Parish towns:
Boldenstorf, Gross Belitz, Gross Gischow, Hohen Luckow, J�rgenshagen, Klein Belitz, Krugland, Matersen,
Neukirchen, Penzin, Reinstorf, Selow, Viezen, Wokrent
Satow near Rostock Parish towns:
Gerdshagen, Horst, Miekenhagen, Radegast, Rederank, Satow, Satow-Niederhagen, Satow-Oberhagen,
Steinhagen
Complete list of parishes and towns:
http://progenealogists.com/germany/mecklenburg/meckpar.htm
I found one EHLERS birth record at Gross Belitz, of the Neukirchen parish (near Buetzow)
Dethlof Hartwig Ehlers and Elisabeth Winockenwerder (?sp) a son
Daniel Carl Christian Ehlers, born 14 Feb 1824 at Gross Belitz, baptised 15 Feb at
Neukirchen.
Have you checked the Germans To America series II: the 1840s or asked someone
to look for you? Even if found I wonder if it would show the town?
http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/gtoa2.html
Have you checked his potential brother for his U.S. records like death certs and
birth certs of his family, and his U.S. church records, especially his marriage in
the U.S? You may have better luck looking "out of the box" looking for others surrounding
Herman. Do you know of any EHLERS who immigrated after 1850? If so you will
have a much better chance of finding them in the Hamburg Departure Manifest
passenger lists and their town.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/misc/emig/ham_pass.html
I just found my elusive great grandmothers birth place in the marriage record in
the church book in a Chicago church called Trinity Lutheran. I had been looking
for 6 years for her birth place town, and there it was staring me in the face!
Fritz