PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL SERVICES
Genealogy is not simply the study of family history. It is also the study of family questions and mysteries. Here are a few of them that we have encountered over the last 40 years:
· “Why did my father leave me in Germany when he went to America in 1904 and not send for me until 18 years later?” This was a question that haunted a woman her entire life. The answer lay in the fact that the man she had thought was her father was actually her step-father and it was an act of kindness to his wife, the woman’s mother, that led him finally to pay for his step-daughter’s passage. The trouble was, no one told the woman the truth about her father. It was not until this woman’s grand daughter asked us this question nearly 80 years later that we were able to lay to rest this family sorrow.
· “How did my ancestor get to America?” This is a common question. Here is an uncommon answer: he was kidnapped. The many times great-grandfather of one particular client was literally kidnapped off the docks in London in the 1600’s and sold into indentured servitude in Colonial America. After several years of misery, he contrived to escape his Master and then spent the rest of his life evading capture within the state of New York. He did manage, however, to start a family – which escaped the shadow of his servitude and became so established in America that some of his descendants are now members of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
· "How did we get our family name?" The answers are too numerous to mention, but I will mention a few of them: 1) it was invented; 2) it was during World War I and German was a forbidden language; 3) the family had white hair; 4) the family lived at the end of town; 5) Dutch names were in vogue at the time (1600-1700).·
· "Why am I so tall? All my siblings are so much shorter than I am." The answer is that after some research we discovered that the person’s father was actually her step-father and that all her brothers and sisters were actually her half-brothers and half-sisters. Her biological father was quite tall.
· "Why did my ancestors settle in Hibbing, Minnesota?" That was the last stop on the railroad line at the time(1907).
· "Why was my ancestor born in Bermuda instead of Virginia?" In this case, the parents of the ancestor in question were sailing in a boat captained by the famous but incompetent Captain John Smith(he regularly landed his ships in the wrong ports). There was a storm at sea in 1603 and Smith made a wrong turn(as per usual) and soon bumped into Bermuda. For the next few years, as the ship was being repaired and made sea-worthy, a child was born to the couple – the very child who perplexed his descendants hundreds of years later by being born in Bermuda when he was supposed to have been born in Virginia.
We hope you have enjoyed a few of the questions that have been put to us over the years – and we’d love to add to them by answering your own questions as well!
· “Why did my father leave me in Germany when he went to America in 1904 and not send for me until 18 years later?” This was a question that haunted a woman her entire life. The answer lay in the fact that the man she had thought was her father was actually her step-father and it was an act of kindness to his wife, the woman’s mother, that led him finally to pay for his step-daughter’s passage. The trouble was, no one told the woman the truth about her father. It was not until this woman’s grand daughter asked us this question nearly 80 years later that we were able to lay to rest this family sorrow.
· “How did my ancestor get to America?” This is a common question. Here is an uncommon answer: he was kidnapped. The many times great-grandfather of one particular client was literally kidnapped off the docks in London in the 1600’s and sold into indentured servitude in Colonial America. After several years of misery, he contrived to escape his Master and then spent the rest of his life evading capture within the state of New York. He did manage, however, to start a family – which escaped the shadow of his servitude and became so established in America that some of his descendants are now members of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
· "How did we get our family name?" The answers are too numerous to mention, but I will mention a few of them: 1) it was invented; 2) it was during World War I and German was a forbidden language; 3) the family had white hair; 4) the family lived at the end of town; 5) Dutch names were in vogue at the time (1600-1700).·
· "Why am I so tall? All my siblings are so much shorter than I am." The answer is that after some research we discovered that the person’s father was actually her step-father and that all her brothers and sisters were actually her half-brothers and half-sisters. Her biological father was quite tall.
· "Why did my ancestors settle in Hibbing, Minnesota?" That was the last stop on the railroad line at the time(1907).
· "Why was my ancestor born in Bermuda instead of Virginia?" In this case, the parents of the ancestor in question were sailing in a boat captained by the famous but incompetent Captain John Smith(he regularly landed his ships in the wrong ports). There was a storm at sea in 1603 and Smith made a wrong turn(as per usual) and soon bumped into Bermuda. For the next few years, as the ship was being repaired and made sea-worthy, a child was born to the couple – the very child who perplexed his descendants hundreds of years later by being born in Bermuda when he was supposed to have been born in Virginia.
We hope you have enjoyed a few of the questions that have been put to us over the years – and we’d love to add to them by answering your own questions as well!