Hi Wolfgang,

Thank you for answering my plea for help on Kurhessen. Where would I find what the Kurhessen boundries were?

The most important ancestor from Kurhessen would be my g-grandmother Eugenia Agnes STEPHAN, born 24 Mar 1848 and emigrated from Bremen on the Western Metropolis with a Charlotte STEPHAN (relationship unknown) arriving in New York on 9 Nov 1867. They were berthed in the second salon.

Eugenia's parents were August and Marie (KUEHNE) STEPHAN. Their birth, marriage and death dates are unknown, however as far as I know they remained in Germany.

Milwaukee, WI church, children's birth, marriage, wills and death records yielded nothing.

The only thing I have to go on is an oral story of a relative being the mayor of Kassel, yet no name or date was given.

So, it may be a stretch of the imagination that she was born in Kassel although her birthplace on the 1870 census does look like Hesse-Kassel. Other censuses say Hessen-Nassau and one family document says Kurhessen.

Thank you so much for your interest.

David Johnson