My first posting was in 1998. Now I do have further informations and I also found some old documents. Some of them are shown on this website. I'm interested in what did happen to my grandmother's grandmother and her brother. Her name was Friederike Zander, his name was Heinrich Zander. They both lived in Schwerin before they went to the USA. Heinrich Zander left Germany about 1856/58. He changed his first name in Henry and together wirth a friend he soon opened and bureau de change and a travel agency for steaming and sailing ships to Europe. Name and address of this company was: Henry Zander & Henry Mayer; 12 Greenwich Street, New York. About 1870 Henry Zander established a new company call Zander & Cohnert: General Laborars & Mechanics Exchange, the address was 6 Greenwich Street, New York. He regulary sent money to his mother Marie Zander. She died 6.6.1869. Then he sent money for the care of the grave of his parents. He also sent money to his sister Luise Zander, who lived in Hamburg. All this payments were hold by Georg Peters, Schloss Street 30B, Schwerin. He was a "geheimer Hofnotarier”, that means a kind of court notary. Later on Henry Zander has got married and had four children. Friederike Zander’s complete name was Friederike Wilhelmine Christine Sophie Zander. She left Germany about 1958/60 and changed her first name into Fredericia. It seemed she was forced to left Germany because she had got an illegitimate child. A waiter called August Hoppe was supposed to be the father, but a rumor said the real father was an aristocrat from the "großherzoglicher Hof von Schwerin”, maybe the duke himself. His name was Friedrich Franz II. She also sent money to her sister Luise. In 1869 she was not married, but she was supposed to went to the North and married a wood-trader. Her illegitimate child was Ludwig Zander. He was born in Schwerin on feb/13.1858 and dies in semptember 1942. From childhood on he was supported by the court. So he became a waiter at court and was choosed from a lot of candidates for another good job. His childhood guardian was Georg Peters (see above). In 1947 my grand-uncle Wilhelm Zander tried to get further information about his grandmother Friederike and her brother Heinrich. If you have any informations about my ancestor I would appreciate if you let me know this. You can send an email to: jchs@gmx.de or jcs@oraculum.de Kind regards Jens-C. Schulze