As many know I have been bitten by the genealogy bug. I have started a family tree at Ancestry.com, and have been doing research on other websites like FamilySearch.org, or Find A Grave.com. Ancestry has a thing where if somebody wants to contact you about your tree they can do it through the website. Ancestry will send the e-mail to you and you keep your privacy and can choose to ignore or answer them.
Back in June I got a strange e-mail that was written in German. I decided to take a look at it since it came from Ancestry. I was able to translate it with the help of the Internet, and a lady I work with. The person (Ursula) had seen my family tree and asked me if I have any information on Heinrich Kahlsdorf who is my great grandfather. I don't know much about him. I know he came to the U.S. from Germany in 18 something with his brother Hermann, and I suspect like many immigrants of the time when he set foot on American soil he was an American and many of the traditions of the old country were left behind.
We haven't been able to find much information on the Kahlsdorf side of the family. My mother has told my father many times that his family must have fallen out if the trees. We have looked and haven't been able to find anything. Even now it is very difficult and Kahlsdorf is not a common name. I did some research and found that many of the immigrants who came to the United States from Germany left from Hamburg or Bremen. Looking at a map of Germany it is most likely that my grandfather left from Bremen. Unfortunately almost all the records were burned during the bombings in World War II
When I e-mailed Ursula I told her I didn't have much information on Heinrich Kahlsdorf, but what I do have I will happily share. The next day I got a e-mail with an attachment from her. It was a pedigree chart, and it has my great grandfather and his brother on it and the family line goes back to 1759!!!
This is so freaking cool!!!! Finally a link. Not only has my great grandfather's family been found, I also have a cousin in Germany!! It is so amazing! I'm still in shock.
Now to find my great grandmother's line. Her maiden name is Meyers. Do you know how many Meyers there are running around?? YIKES!!!!
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Gretchen, that is so exciting! I am happy for you. I know what that is like when you hit a brick wall for so long and then all of a sudden you get thru that wall and then you have to go thru a new wall farther up.
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