Professionally, a writer and editor in magazine and book publishing, I've been a New Yorker since 1977. But I hail from Wisconsin's Holyland, the site of "chain migrations" from Germany. In my family's case, the most common surnames are Greuel and Ott from Bavaria (around Durrbrunn), and Konen, Schmitz, Schneider, and Endries from the Rhineland (mainly the villages of Lutzerath and Boos, and the town of Trier). I use ancestry.com (Schneider/Konen Family tree) and http://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Schneider-Family-Tree-3994 to leaf out my tree, pursuing many branches because of my general interest in Wisconsin's Holyland.

Professionally, a writer and editor in magazine and book publishing, I've been a New Yorker since 1977. But I hail from Wisconsin's Holyland, the site of "chain migrations" from Germany. In my family's case, the most common surnames are Greuel and Ott from Bavaria (around Durrbrunn), and Konen, Schmitz, Schneider, and Endries from the Rhineland (mainly the villages of Lutzerath and Boos, and the town of Trier). I use ancestry.com (Schneider/Konen Family tree) and http://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Schneider-Family-Tree-3994 to leaf out my tree, pursuing many branches because of my general interest in Wisconsin's Holyland.