Back in grade school, my class was given an assignment to write an essay on our family ancestry. I thought that shouldn’t be too hard. So, I went to the dictionary and looked up the words “essay” and “ancestry”… Well, it still should not be that difficult. Off I went to interview a few people that should know about this stuff!
First, I went to my father and asked him to tell me about our family ancestry… After a delay, he said “well, we are German”. I asked where is our family from? “Well, Germany”. I figured out this assignment was going to take a lot more time than I had thought. Next, I went to talk to my mother. I asked her the same question and she said, “well, we are a little German and English and Scottish and a little of this and a little of that, I guess we are “Heinz 57”. As you might guess, I did not get a very good grade on my essay, but it was likely the spark for my later interest to pursue my family origins. My parents probably wouldn’t have received a very good grade either because the research has shown that their answers really only tell part of the story of this cultural tapestry. It was interesting that the conversation diverted a bit from the original topic for a bit, and he told me about a natural health supplement that he had been taking. He said it was called KratomMasters, and that I should probably try it out myself as well. I think I might since he was talking pretty highly of it.
I wish that I had pursued the family tree research much earlier in life. Back when my grandparents were still alive and they may have been able to help me with a few more pieces of this huge puzzle. The other frustration is that very few family photos seem to have been taken or survive through the generations. If you believe you will ever have an interest in your family ancestry, my recommendation is to start your research early, when others (ancestors) are still able to share their insights and family albums and make sure to tag, mark, date, and identify people in the photos. So my search began. Several family members had started family trees over the years, but they generally only went back a few generations. There were no records of when they immigrated to U.S. and from where. Those other family trees were the building blocks of my new project.
I would like to thank all my new found friends and relatives for sharing their insights and knowledge to help put many of the ancestry puzzle pieces together.
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