Family History

When it comes to my family’s history in the United States I don’t know very much. The story of how my family came to the U.S. is not one that is known by either of my parents. Although there is record of our family’s ancestry, we don’t have a copy of it in our possession. What we do know is where are ancestors came from and approximately when.

My mom’s side of the family came from different areas in Europe. My maternal grandfather’s family came to the United States in the mid 1800’s from England. The last 4 generations of that side of the family were born in the United States and the family is located in Upstate New York. I currently have a great grandmother who will be 104 years old in a few weeks. She knows much about the family’s ancestry but I was unable to contact her. My maternal grandmother’s family came from Germany in the early 1900’s. My grandma can recall relatives traveling back and forth from the United States back to Germany to visit family when she was growing up in New York.

My dad’s side of the family has a similar story. We know that we have relatives who were from Russia who then immigrated to Germany and eventually came to the United States. My dad believes that they came to the United States in the late 19^th century or the early 20^th century when lots of immigrants from that area of Europe were coming over. My paternal grandmother also has family that came directly from Germany to the United States but we are unsure when.

Because of a lack of knowledge, I don’t know what struggles my ancestors encountered when coming to the United Sates but I can make some assumptions. I can assume that my family from England came in search of a new life in the United States. They came at a time when the United States had just recently become a nation and there was lots of promise. I do know they were very successful. As for my relatives from Germany I would think they came for mostly the same reason. At the turn of the 19^th century the number of Europeans immigrating to the United Sates was at an all time high. I can imagine they were discriminated against during the first and second world wars when the U.S. was fighting Germany.

Ancestry has never been something that I have thought much about. I have always known that I am mostly German and that I had some English and Russian blood. But I have never known the stories of what my ancestors went though to get to where they are today. It interesting how some families put lots of importance on their heritage and others do not. I have many friends who are Irish and they value that. They all know where their families came from in Ireland and when they came to the U.S. it interesting how different cultures value there own history and how much importance they put into knowing their family story.