Kathy, I am positive we are related. My mother was Bertha Portteus, the daughter of Benedikta Biel Schur. Albert Biel of San Jose was my grandmother's brother. I have been interested in finding out how my grandmother got to the United States. I know that Albert sponsored her and she came in about 1883. Do you have access to any information concerning that? My grandmother was born in 1865 in Oberufhausen. My brother, Paul, has visited Anna and Joseph Gob on many occasions. It certainly is a small world.