Thanks for the history lesson--I enjoyed reading your take on the matter--my
father was first-generation (born 1904) and when my brother was home from
the Army in 1965 (having met a girl in Frankfurt while there), a phone call
came from her in Germany which my father took, speaking fluent German!!!!!
Which was the first time I knew or heard him speak German!!!!!!
I only wish then I had the interest I do now in genealogy!!!!!
These insights I read on this list help "weave the fabric" of my family's
past--don't ever stop.
Hi Claire. Thanks for the kind words. Your story is another one of those gems that amazes, and highlights one of the points I brought up earlier - that we often find ourselves preoccupied in "full burn mode" and thus driven to cover the basics (or what we think are the basics), generally at the expense of things that predate us. How easy it is to overlook one's ancestry and relegate it to the background, and dismiss its full implications, when so many other things are racing by us. If it's any solace, you are not alone in this regard, as evidenced by comments on this board alone. Was it a case of not enough answers provided, or not enough questions asked? A lot of folks should chew on that one a bit more.
I'm also like you; I want to know more of the nitty gritty details, at least as far as they can be reconstructed. The Hans and Greta begot little Fritz, who met Hilda and begot Gretel (blah blah) doesn't hack it for me. More important than pushing things back FURTHER, I'd rather push things out WIDER. I want to know what made the more immediate ancestors of mine tick, what the political and social climates were around them that helped influence and drive them, and how it might apply to me as a consequence at this remote point today. Thus the importance of doing as much research as possible close to home before reaching out across the waters.
After all, we are all part of a chain of flesh and bones, bloodlines of distinct and traceable genetic material and markers that find their basis in those who came before us. We are not random accidents, or gift surprises from the stork. Cultural and social conditioning only accents and extends this, it doesn't preclude or supplant it.
Therefore if I can learn more of the particulars of my grandparents and great grandparents, it invariably teaches me more about my own parents - and me. Not in every way, but in surprisingly many. That sure beats knowing I have a great great [x8] Johann and Maria way back there in the hazy mist of 1650, whom I have little chance of getting to know better except as names on paper. Now I'll gladly document those far reaches should they become available, only that's not where I choose to prioritize things. I'd rather know what the favorite classical passage (or beer) of my grandfather Dolf was, or why our matriarch Emilie longed to return to her birthplace after so many years here in America. To discover the reason(s) why the family chose to leave the Fatherland to begin with is more important to me than some medieval footnote (though I'll take that too, as greed knows no bounds).
Fortunately there is all kinds of room to maneuver here, that's the beauty of it all. In that regard, may each find their own way to the past, and themselves.
