At the end of last year I was showing some friends a three-room museum in Kothen, northern Bavaria. The name of the museum is Werberger Stuben. Werberg was a village within the training area of Wildflecken. The people who had to leave their homes donated furniture, tools, dishes and photographs to decorate the tiny museum. The church bell as well as the baptismal font adorn the rooms. I have been there several times, but last time I noticed on a shelf hiding in the corner about 10 old books from the years 1839 to 1881.

I opened one book, "Kreisamtsblatt von Unterfranken und Aschaffenburg des Koenigsreichs Bayern, Jahrgang 1854," (County Newsletter for Lower Frankonia and Aschaffenburg of the Kingdom of Bavaria), to look at the index. On one of the first pages I found the title, "Emigrations." Being curious, I looked for the starting page and discovered more than 400 people were listed by surname, first name, place of origin, and a reference number. I was really surprised by how many people had left the villages of our area, like WILDFLECKEN, OBERBACH, OBERRIEDENBERG, UNTERRIEDENBERG, RÖMERSHAG, BRÜCKENAU, WERNARZ, ECKARTS, RUPBODEN, ZEITLOFS, WEISSENBACH, HEILIGKREUZ, ROSSBACH, DETTER, MODLOS, OBERLEICHTERSBACH, UNTERLEICHTERSBACH, MITGENFELD, BREITENBACH, SCHONDRA, SCHÖNDERLING, SINGENRAIN, SCHILDECK, GERODA, PLATZ, VOLKERS, SPEICHERZ, KOTHEN, MOTTEN, and not to forget the "Forgotten Villages..." discussed in MISSING LINKS, Vol. 5, No. 24, 14 June 2000, with REUSSENDORF, ALTGLASHÜTTEN, NEUGLASHÜTTEN, DÜRRENBERG, WERBERG, ROTHENRAIN, EBERTSHOF, ROTHENRAIN, and SILBERHOF.