I wish I had listened more carefully to my maternal grandmother. I know hardly anything about my Dad's family. There was no older generation to pass on stories. On my mother's side, the history would have probably been a lot more interesting had I paid attention but even that is limited. My grandmother came over from Germany when she was about 13 supposedly to escape from some epidemic that was happening that I haven't been able to identify more specifically. Her older brother was already been here and seemed to have been doing very well and he took her in. My perception is that she came from humble stock and was treated more like a servant than a family member. Her stories involving her husband who died when I was 3 were much more colorful. She spoke of him as though he were a prince, (although most likely the black sheep of his family.) From artifacts that we have, we can surmise that that they were fairly well-off. We know that the family had their
own "postal service" from an official postal stamp bearing their name. We know that his father was a sharp shooter who allegedly shot in competition with Buffalo Bill when he toured Europe. I do have a picture of him with medals and trophies galore. A tea set that my mother had, said to have been his prize. They did have a factory of some sort from what could be interpreted from letters sent in mid to late 30's. The letters written in an unfamiliar dialect to any German speaking people who've seen them and difficult to interpret, although references to my birth was mentioned in them. An older cousin went to Germany after the war to see if there were any survivors or information but nothing was turned up. There has never been any contact beyond those last letters so it is assumed they did not survive.