Hello Ralf,
Thank you for your reply and the information. I never thought that
there might be 3 Gersbachs even though we have multiple towns of the same name
here in the US. I live in one of the 3 Lansings, the one in Illinois. I guess
that I will have to presume that the Gersbach that I am looking for is the
one in Palatine since that one has a web site. It is best to look where there
is information rather than in a place where there isn't any? There are 3
other German names in my family tree: Maria Ruf born 18 June 1825 who married a
Baumann in Germany probably around 1843 who came to America before 1863 with
two children Susan Baumann born in 1848 and Charles Baumann born in 1852. The
last is a Christian Spath or Spaeth who was born 29 October 1819.
I have been to the wiki site that you mentioned. I have not explored
it all, since much of it is written only in German. I did see what I thought
was a German university group collecting names of Germans who went to
America. Do you know where on the web that is? I lost it almost immediately and
could not find my way back to it.
My wife is not sure where her George Beck came from in Germany. All
she knows for sure is that he was George H. Beck born in 1768 and settled in
Pennsylvania where many other German families first came. George H. Beck also
had a son in Pennsylvania who he named George Beck.
Thank you again for your help.
Sincerely,
John Spaeth