I lived in Germany for many years and my father was constantly urging me to visit the village of our ancestors. I resisted but finally decided to stop his prodding by doing just that - and the genealogy bug bit me! I took a bus into Elsoff, rented a room for a few days, and learned from their 900-Year History that in 1737 my 5x Great Grandfather, along with other young people of their village, 'stole sheep and sold them in the next village on Easter Sunday in order to buy passage to America'. NONE of this story had previously made it to the U.S. because none of my greatly extended family had gotten to know the locals or could translate the articles! From my periodic trips there I've met many of the villagers, this next year I hope to spend a couple of weeks 'on site' really collaborating with one of their local researchers I've virtually met.