Hi! My father told me his cousin was Franz Von Papen and that when his grandfather came to the US in 1850, he dropped the "von". I haven't been able to find any information further back than my great-great grandfather, Dietrich Theodore Pape. Supposedly, he came from Westphalia with his brother (my gggrandfather was only 13). I can't find any emigration records and don't know who his brother was. It's very frustrating. What the von Papen connection is, I'm not sure. I do know that he was from Westphalia and so were the von Papen family...from Werl, According to Franz von Papen's book, he traced the family history back to the 1100's, to Albert Pape. The were a Catholic family and had some special job in the Church (which might be the source of the name, which means "priest" or "pope".) Anyway, the family had rights to the salt mines in Werl. I'd be happy to post info about that if you're interested. It is really fascinating. The family has been in that town since 1100! The title "Erbsälzer" applied to the families (of which only 2 remained in recent history) who had the rights to the salt mines. It was a title of nobility of sorts as they were the town patricians.