This week’s Wonderful Word is: ANCESTRY

Have you watched the show Who Do You Think You Are? It’s interesting. They trace the ANCESTRY of celebrities. Surprise, surprise, they all have very fascinating people in their family trees with amazing stories to tell.

I’ve always been intrigued by my family’s past. Because my paternal grandparents immigrated in 1927 and my father is a first generation American, I’ve known quite a bit about that side of my family. My father traveled to the Netherlands in the 70s and brought back many great stories about the people I descend from.

I never knew much about my mother’s family. I was able to trace them back to my great-grandfather who came from Czechoslovakia, in 1894. We knew about the Slovakian part, but were surprised to learn that my great-great-grandparents were born in Austria. We may not be as Eastern European as we thought!

The other side of her family came from the Netherlands between 1861 and 1877. There weren’t any surprises on that side of the family.

So, I decided to trace my husband’s family. Very cool. I found his 4 times great-grandfather came from Prussia in the early 1800s and I just found another relative of his who came from Wales in 1866 or 1867. They settled in Illinois, had 11 children, only 6 of whom survived, and he worked as a coal miner. I wonder if that’s what he did in Wales. It must have been a difficult life.

ANCESTRY, even for boring people like us, can be interesting. I wonder what brought them all here. I know my father’s parents came because there weren’t the opportunities there that were here. They wanted their children to have a chance at a better life. How difficult, though, to give up everything you know and come to a new place. How courageous. Conditions in their birth countries must have been bad for them to risk coming to the U.S.

I admire my ANCESTORS. Facing what they faced, I’m not sure if I could have done it. Some of them were single when they came, but some were married with children. They must have believed they could better provide for their families here, even if it meant working in a coal mine.

What do you know of your ANCESTORS?