My paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany in the early 1900's. As a child, my widowed grandmother lived with my family and always told us that no other family members emigrated except her, my grandfather and one uncle. I grew up believing that we had no other family in the US except my father and his siblings and their families. I was always mildly curious about my ancestors but while Grandma was alive it seemed to be a non-subject. And my father really didn't know much about the family because his father died while he was a baby. Several years ago I tried to do some research but didn't have the resources that are available today. A couple of years ago I started again and I'm hooked. By luck I found "Find-a-grave" website and through that found a wealth of information. Ironically, I found that many ancestors had emigrated and through that information found living relatives previously unknown. It fulfilled an emptiness that I never realized was in my life. Having received such a rich blessing from this website, I decided that one way I could payback those unknown contributors was by becoming a volunteer myself and hopefully fulfilling other families requests. My hope is that others who are researching their families are a successful in their searches.
(All photos I have taken and posted are available for you to use without further authorization or release)

My paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany in the early 1900's. As a child, my widowed grandmother lived with my family and always told us that no other family members emigrated except her, my grandfather and one uncle. I grew up believing that we had no other family in the US except my father and his siblings and their families. I was always mildly curious about my ancestors but while Grandma was alive it seemed to be a non-subject. And my father really didn't know much about the family because his father died while he was a baby. Several years ago I tried to do some research but didn't have the resources that are available today. A couple of years ago I started again and I'm hooked. By luck I found "Find-a-grave" website and through that found a wealth of information. Ironically, I found that many ancestors had emigrated and through that information found living relatives previously unknown. It fulfilled an emptiness that I never realized was in my life. Having received such a rich blessing from this website, I decided that one way I could payback those unknown contributors was by becoming a volunteer myself and hopefully fulfilling other families requests. My hope is that others who are researching their families are a successful in their searches.
(All photos I have taken and posted are available for you to use without further authorization or release)