Friday Show-and-Tell

A few weeks ago I was innocently blogging along here, when I came across HeartnSoul's (aka CuriousCat) interesting and thought-provoking blog.  I read a few good posts and then saw that her family had recently been to a couple of memorable-to-me towns in Nebraska, of all places, where I just happen to have family.  So I messaged her.  It seems everyone in Nebraska or from Nebraska is related somehow -- I mean, I'm not aware, or even suspecting, that there is an inordinate amount of inter-marriage, but those who settled that state way back when were there for the long haul!   So I asked her, "Do you suppose we are related?"  She came over and read my blog before replying, then she said, "Oh, dear me! I HOPE not!" LOL, no, I'm making that up.  She graciously gave me her last name, and what do you know, she shares her married name with my great-grandfather! 

So we did a little digging.  Come to find out, five generations ago, I'm guessing post-civil war era, brothers Mike, Caleb, Jacob, and Gottlieb, who were German farmers, picked up generations of  homeland memories and everything they could carry away, and moved their families to Russia to avoid conscription into the German army, having been told their sons would not be required to enlist there.  They were lied to, of course.  Seems to be the way of governments.  So together they again moved everything onto a ship bound for the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.  Once arrived on our fair shore, they made their way to the rich farmland of the central United States, to a nice little town in Nebraska, where they settled and prospered.  Now, I keep losing track of the number of Greats, but my great-grandfather was the grandson of Jacob.  Denise's DH, my shirt-tail cousin many times removed, is the great-great-great(?)-grandson of Jacob's brother, Mike! (Is that right, Denise?)  Isn't that cool?!  (I don't like that word, but sometimes, cool is just what it is!)

Now, Denise is afraid to search any deeper into her roots, for fear she may be related somehow to Hitler or Charles Manson or Boy George.  But if she would just search out her husband's side, and find that it is so, she can just say that is HIS side of the family.  As for me, I come from a line that includes the Wright Brothers, Squire Boone (Daniel's brother), and one of the queens of Sweden.  (I also may be a decendant of Benedict Arnold or of the Clinton lineage, but if I was, I certainly wouldn't tell you!)

So after all that, we found we are barely related, I mean, that is like saying we are both related to Noah, lol...  there's even a boat in the story! You never know what you are going to learn here at HSB.  It certainly is an educational place. This cousin of mine by marriage has some great stuff there at Everything Heart and Soul.  She is an articulate writer and will give your brain something to do.

PS.  The family tree came from Google, not from my family archives!