Kerlin, Prussia and Weikartshein, Hessen. Where are these places
today?  My great grandfather, Theodore Ludwig Knaak was born on June
4, 1843 in Kerlin, Prussia.  His father was Theodore Paul Knaak and
his mother was Friederiche Wolf Knaak. My great grandmother was Elise
Becker who was born March 12, 1852 in Weikartshein,Hessen.

Dear barnchild,

As for Weikartshein, the answer is very easy: Hessen is the German
name for Hesse, and the Hessian village of Weikartshein is still
existing today. The name is written a bit different from the version
you provided, but there can be no doubt that it is the same place. It
is called "Weickartshain", which is pronounced the same.

Today, Weickartshain is part of the town of Grünberg. If you want to
do genealogical research, you will have to contact the competent
offices in Grünberg. Birth, darriage, and death records are kept by
the Standesamt (Register Office), so I assume that their address will
be most useful for you:

Magistrat der Stadt Grünberg
Standesamt
Marktplatz 8
35305 Grünberg (Hessen)
Germany

Phone: +49(0)6401-8040
Fax: +49(0)6401-80477
E-Mail: standesamt@gruenberg.de
Website: http://www.gruenberg.de/

However, "Kerlin" proved to me a much harder problem. I have studied
old atlases, gazetteers, and genealogy databases. There is one thing I
can say for sure now: No source knows about a place in former Prussia
by the name of "Kerlin", neither it the parts that belong to Germany
today, nor in the territories that belong to Poland or Russia now. Had
there been such a place - it must have been extremely tiny.
But in my opinion, the whole thing is different. I know from my own
experience that some printed characters in old German fonts (so-called
Fraktur or Gothic Type) were easily misread by non-Germans who were
not used to them. For example, the German capital "B" was often read
as "K" in foreign countries. Such mistakes even ocurred with
hand-written words. What if your great-grandfather was not born in
"Kerlin", but in "Berlin", the Prussian capital?
That would be the most logical solution. Unfortunately, most register
records in Berlin have been destroyed in World War II. But you might
nevertheless want to try additional research there. Here is contact
information for the Berlin Central Register Office:

Standesamt I in Berlin
Rückerstrasse 9 
10119 Berlin 
Germany

Phone: +49(0)30-90207-0
Fax: +49(0)30-90207-245


Hope this will help!
Best regards,
Scriptor

This answer came from and knowledgeable and articulate researcher.  It
was very helpful.

Hi barnchild,

I was not able to locate cities in Prussia.  However, here are three
maps that encompass early 1800's to early 1900's of the area.

Map of Germany, 1815 showing the members of German Confederation
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/map/germanconf.htm

Map of the German Empire, 1871
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/map/germanempire.htm

Map of Germany, 1920
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/map/germany1920.htm

I had no luck finding Hessen.  

Regards,

tlspiegel
Google Answers Researcher

Hi barnchild,

I located an area called Hesse... if you look 1/4 down from the top of
the map, and approximately 1/3 over from the left... there's a small
light brown colored area called E. of Hesse.  I don't know for sure if
this would be Hessen though.

Germany and Italy in 1803 after Principal Decree of the Imperial
Deputation
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/map/germanyitaly1803.htm

tlspiegel
Google Answers Researcher

"Kerlin" could be "Körlin" (similar pronounciation). In 1945 this town
was renamed "Karlino".

http://www.karlino.home.pl/ang/miasto.htm
http://www.karlino.home.pl/

http://www.bmb.pl/Karlino/defaulta.htm


Genealogical information (in German):
http://www.kolberg-koerlin.de/Allgemein.htm

A genealogical comment concerning Körlin by someone with the name of Knaak:
http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/archiv/ow-preussen-l/2003-02/msg00470.html

This could be interesting (Koerlin = Körlin):
http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/Kolberg-L/