by: ldybg93
As I'm sure happened with a lot of genealogy enthusiasts, my interest in tracing my family roots began in grade school as part of a class project. It's been over 30 years ago, and I still have my winning artwork which graced the cover of our class book celebrating the year of the family. I was hooked!
In eighth grade we had to interview and write a research paper on a family member. I chose my grandmother who had been adopted in Germany as it all seemed very interesting and exotic that she crossed the Atlantic onboard a ship from another land.
Somewhere in my dusty files, I still have that handwritten interview with my late grandmother ~ I got an A! There were many old photographs included with my report including one that was captioned 'my great-great-great grandmother in Germany.' Unfortunately, I have no idea if this was a paternal or maternal GGG-grandmother or what her name might have been. The mystery remains unsolved.
And speaking of unsolved mysteries, there's another in this particular family line...my grandmother always said that she was adopted in Germany.
We've always wondered about the validity of this because in her later years she was the spitting image of her adoptive mother.
I have a German Bible in which was recorded my great-grandparents wedding in Germany. They were married ten years before my grandmother was born. I wonder if perhaps my grandmother was the child of another family member and adopted by my great-grandparents in order to take care of her or maybe to hide the real story of her birth.
I also have class photos of my grandmother in Germany in 2nd and 3rd grade. These must have been some of the last photos of her in Germany as they came to the United States in 1929 when she was just eight years old.
As a childhood fan of Nancy Drew, I have always been into mysteries. Family mysteries are what captivate me now and they are what keep me climbing my family tree over 30 years after my initial foray into family tree 'art.'