poland +-1850 the surname is hauptfleisch

Question:

Need to find my ancesters from germany/poland +-1850 the surname is hauptfleisch?

my grandfathers name was johannes gerhardus hauptfleisch he had a brother dont know name and a sister named joey real or nickname

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I generally avoid the questions of "what nationality is my surname" since the answer is not reliable. Having said that, the name you have doesn't "ring" Polish to me. Of course, even with another "nationality" behind it, it is very easy to realize that your ancestors could have lived in what is now Poland.
The reason for saying that, is that the geography of Poland is a nightmare, in terms of frequent boundary changes, partiitions, annexations, so forth. Especially during the 1800's. I am Polish, and loved Mitchener's book Poland, with in depth understanding.
Knowing those boundary issues hits right at the question of where to search for records. More than anything, you need to be certain as you can re his birth year AND when he migrated.
Here is one file on rootsweb, that has this surname-
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?o...
Herman had a son born in 1893, making him a good candidate for the sibling, but the file does not specifiy a location of origin (which is exactly what I hoped to locate). You can email the file owner and compare notes, he may have info that he did not post.
Last stop is google, and there are numerous entries. This one might be worth looking into, as it includes the birth place of the wife-
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/valle...