Dear Sven,
That is the neatest idea. I am in St. Louis, Missouri area and am also willing. My husband can often be found lollygagging around various counties in the Southern Illinois area hunting, fishing and often working. Perhaps I can get him to take a few photos as he likes to take photos, though I regret that his interests don't include genealogy.
Firstly though I must apologize in advance if one emails me directly and my mailbox is full and mail is rejected. I'm trying to fix that. Unfortunately I don't yet own a digital camera but is possible for me to use regular camera and have pictures developed onto a C.D. and I think easily formated to .gif or .jpg and for easy viewing by just about any operating system. In the case of text records I think .rtf format is recognizable and openable by nearly any kind of word processing software or any basic text or document program.
Dear List,
I have small suggestion to maybe include the name of the state as well as the town info if known. My suggestion stems from the fact that there is a WOLFENB�TTEL, SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
as well as WOLFENB�TTEL, NIEDERSACHSEN, though I think in Sven's case is probobly meaning Neidersachsen sinse this is Hannover list.
My thinking is that many of us have German ancestors from various locales and occassionally we may find a similar surname, or perhaps surnames of other relatives initially steming from Hannover list and locale that might have spouses or parents of another state, or former state. Occassionally one might get the good luck to recognize a similar surname or similar locale which might possibly give one a clue for research ideas needed for other people in ones family tree.
I have often come across the same or similar surnames that people have posted on this list in my locale St. Louis, Missouri area as well as a few counties nearby in Missouri and in Illinois. Recognizing a surname record, or locale seen might help complete ones family history, especially when a record one may have come across include names of persons affiliated with the matching surname or location. An example would be a sacramental record which might list fathers name, mothers maiden name, and names of witness'.
My thinking is also that there are so many cities, towns, counties in the U.S. that have the same name. I think that is also true in Germany.
My home town St. Louis, Missouri was a pretty big stop of point in the 19th century and occassionally one might get lucky to find a record of an ancestor passing thru St. Louis to places in Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa as well as out west. Perhaps an ancestor got married here and moved on...perhaps a brother remained.
If comments suggestions out of line dear moderater, please disregard, no offenses taken.
I also would like to thank the fantastic people of this list for the kind assistance, advice, and even actual record data that have allowed me to get a grasp of my own personal family history.
Bravo to all of you.