| I have only been involved with genealogy for a very short time. I don't intend on making a "strict" or "proper" research document as the pros do. For starters I don't have an income so I have no money to invest in this. At first I just wanted to put together a little website with a tree I could construct from my own memory. Many of my mother's family grew up in one little neighborhood-the same one I still live in. Six generations lived here. Four generations of my father's family lived here as well. By the time I put together all these names, visited local graves, added pictures and some little anecdotes it just took on a life of its own. My cousin Cheryl is already in the process of extensive research of my dad's family. She has documentation back to the Revolutionary War. Several of our ancestors fought in that war and every war but Desert Storm since. We are eligible for membership in the D.A.R. Then about 5 weeks ago a distant cousin, Erwin, in Germany found my website somehow and has shared research going back several hundred years! He has shared information about the town, the people, information and pictures. A VERY generous guy !!! Up until then we had not known exactly where they had come from-just that it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the meanwhile I had an old address in Poland of someone in my husband's family. It is written in Polish so I gave it my best shot and sent a letter. He was under the impression that "his one uncle" was deceased. About 6 weeks later we received a letter from his Uncle Walter! Walter has an extensive family in Poland and he has now shared their information with me! He has sent us pictures of them all. He also has 2 aunts and their families over there but we haven't heard from them yet! So my little tree has grown and grown in such a short time! Like I said before I don't have money to invest in my own personal copy of the documents but Cheryl has documented the Stevens family and cousins Ewald and Erwin the Hoffman/Ballner/Menrath families. If you would like you can visit my "From Whence We Came" website ( still working on nav links due to transfer). Besides anecdotes, the family line, surnames, and photos I have a "tour" of the countries that they came from and a section on the history of my neighborhood, too! Erwin has sent me a lovely picture of a goose family (below). Aren't they adorable!? This was taken this spring in Segenthau, Romania. |
