----------------------------Original message---------------------------- A patron here is trying to track down some place names that he came across doing genealogical research. The names were in use in the late 19th/early 20th century in what is now northern Slovakia, near the city of Ostrava, just south of Poland. These should be located in or near the West Beskids mtn. range, which is to the east of Ostrava: Arva (a political division of some sort); Orova, Osvay, and Walch (three towns within it). Every geographic name in this area seems to have a Slovak and a Polish spelling, and maybe a German one, too. The BGN gazetteer shows lots of places in this area with similar names, but nothing exactly the same. I also don't know anything about eastern European languages, which might help in identifying cognates. We have scattered sheets in a 1:25000 series of pre-WWII topos of Czechoslovakia, but none covering the area in question. Other than those, we just have more recent small-scale maps and atlases of all of Czechoslovakia, which didn't help. Any leads would be appreciated. Thanks, .------. Mark Thomas | | Evans Library | | Texas A&M University | ~~~-----. College Station, TX 77843-5000 ______| | \ \ (409) 845-5741 / FAX (409) 845-6238 \_ __ * _; mthomas@tamvenus / [log in to unmask] \__/ \ _/~ \_ /~ \_ ( \__)