We arrived at a municipal-looking building. Herr Berens took us to a room where a woman, who spoke no English, sat at a desk working on a computer. Behind her were two large metal fireproof cabinets, locked. He must have explained to her what I was up to, and I was encouraged to pull out my one-page family tree with names and dates. She took a look at it and then opened up her cabinets and pulled out old ledgers that she started flipping through.

Herr Berens had not brought his reading glasses, so my appeals to him to use the dictionary to help me understand what was going on couldn�t be satisfied. My husband was as confused as I was. Herr Berens had reached his ability to participate and had other errands to run, so he bid us goodbye. I looked over the woman�s shoulder at the contents of the ledgers.

We were lucky that someone else in the office could spare a few moments to do some initial translation that got us started. It turns out we were in the municipal office that stores all of the old civil records from the surrounding towns. Once I realized what I had before me, I could write down what I wanted (names, dates) and the archivist could then look it up. The downside is that I could not understand any of the archivist's additional comments or explanations.

The records here are either the original books, or old copies of them. The first ledger she opened turned out to be some sort of hand-written index that she checked for the surname. The second book turned out to be civil records of births. A third ledger contained marriage records-- in French! (Between 1789 and 1815, the French maintained control over the region; most civil records during this time�at least marriages�were recorded in French.) The French was easily readable compared to the old German script! [Editors Note: While I was there, we found a marriage record for what we thought at the time was a different Joh. Heinrich Betz. I took a copy with me anyway, and it's a good thing I did... we later found out that this was indeed our great-great-great-grandfather! But that's another story...]

After this exciting experience, Herr Berens encouraged us to take the train down to Kaiserslautern to research my family�s emigration records.

Apparently, all emigration out of the Pfalz had to be recorded in Kaiserslautern. This information has been well cataloged by the Institut fur Pfalzische Geschichte und Volkskunde. Unfortunately, while it might have been required to register in Kaiserslautern, many Pfalzians emigrated without doing so. Carla Heller�s excellent page about emigration from Baden explains that because permission was required to emigrate during the time of my ancestors� departure, and because many knew they would not get that permission (especially military-aged males), many families left Germany without permission, and without registering. In these cases, there are no records.

We took the commuter train to Kaiserslautern. It was about an hour�s train ride from Altembamberg through the lovely Alsenz River Valley, dotted with small towns, vineyards and farms.

The Institute is about a mile�s walk toward the older part of town from the train station. Get a map of the city if you don�t have one. We wasted over an hour trying to find our way around. (It was a hot day; I was cranky.) The Institute is on the corner of Benzinoring Str and Siegriedstr. The office is on the third floor.

The Institute has two sets of typed index cards: alphabetical surnames, and alphabetical town names. They also have three-ring notebooks containing correspondence from other researchers, covering many decades. These are also sorted alphabetically by surname. They are definitely worth looking at, containing articles, letters from around the world, etc. They are a great way to find out who is researching the same surnames, a sort of pre-Internet "network" of genealogists. The Institute also has a limited number of (copies of) church books. There is no fee for using the facilities. The receptionist speaks English and will give you a quick overview of how the records are organized, but she is not very knowledgeable in genealogy, or even the region. She did not even recognize the town we had just come from. So don�t take her specific suggestions or advice at face value. Fortunately, the records are well organized, and your ancestors are either there or they�re not. Always check alternative spellings if you don�t find them at first. I had a list of fifteen names to check; I did all that and had absolutely NO luck.