G : Where do we come from? (WR)

Where Do We Come From?

I am my family’s genealogist. I’ve always been interested in finding out who my ancestors are and where they came from. It was very simple at first only using the information that was at hand from books my father had, which listed some of his relatives and ancestors, and pictures that my uncle had, that my mother could identify. This was all pre-computer.

My parents both came from Germany. Actually, every one of my ancestors (at least that I could find) came from Germany. That makes some of the research easy since I have to only search one country for information. However, the difficult part is that I don’t speak or read the language. This became more problematic as my parents, uncles, aunts, etc. have passed away.

I have a number of letters written to my mother in the 1930’s from Germany that may provide some useful information. Unfortunately, they are all written using Old German Script (Sütterlin), a form of writing that is no longer taught or used. Not many people I know, even those from Germany, can read any of these letters. That makes the letters a great resource still to be uncovered.

The Internet became a great resource for my research. Some sources required fees, which I learned over time, could be avoided by signing up for a free month to try (which only works once) or by accessing them through my public library. Some sites were http://www.ancestry.com, http://www.archives.com, and https://familysearch.org. I was able to find information on my Jewish heritage from http://www.jewishgen.org.

Through that last site, I was able to find a person whose great grandparent had the same name and location as my great grandparent. It turned out that they were sisters. She couldn’t provide me any more information than I already had, other than my great grandmother’s siblings. She did, however, refer me to the person in Germany that had found out all that information for her. I then contacted him with the information I had. It turned out that he was sort of a genealogist too and lived about 50 miles from where my parents grew up in Germany. Through him, I not only was able to trace my father’s side of the family back to the 1700s, but got news article, lists, and pictures of tombstones that I could never have found without actually being in Germany.

I’ve also been able to find information by visiting and writing to the National Archives in Washington. I have copies of the passenger lists from the ships my relatives came to the U.S. on and copies of N.Y.Times articles announcing the arrival of those ships.

In addition to my own family history, I’ve researched the family history of my wife (who turns out to be a Mayflower descendent) and my son’s fiance’s family. I share all of the information that I have found with other family members through Dropbox (as online storage space).

I continue to do research when I can. There are always new things to learn and new sources to find. As my sister-in-law from France always says, “It’s good to know where you came from.”