a1steve@... wrote:

Would this warrant a person saying they were from
Germany and not >from 'Russia' for example.

My own great-grandfather, Joseph Bernard FRIEDMAN, is recorded in different
US censuses as being >from Kurland, Poland, Germany, and Russia. I can make
some sense of that, since that territory was part of different countries at
different times. But sometimes I wonder if it was just a matter of having a
vague recollection of the geography of "the old country". (My ggfather came
to the US in the 1850s.)

My point is that the name of the country might be reported in various ways,
and you will probably never know for sure what the reasons are. But if you
know the town he was from, you have what you really need.

George Friedman
Champaign, IL