I think that I shall never see, A finished genealogy.
They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when
somebody says your name for the last time.
"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because
they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who
will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those
unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this
because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual
people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are
here.”
― Richard Dawkins
You own everything that happened to you.
Tell your Stories.
If people wanted you to write warmly about them,
they should've behaved better.
Anne Lamott
DEAR ANCESTOR
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiselled out
On polished marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
Author Unknown
STRANGERS IN THE BOX
Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.
I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, or when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be passed away?
Make time to save your stories,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box. Welcome viewer,
Sometimes, I wish I could go back in a time in a machine and really get to know our ancestors. How
do you piece together a life that nothing more than a census statistic or a newspaper factoid? How
does one reach back in time and pull them to us? Feel what they felt or see what they saw. How did
they deal with the unique times they lived? Did they handle adversity with strength and honor? Did
they ever feel despair? Did they have a sense of humor? Were they admired? Reviled? Were they good
to others?
We inherit from our ancestors gifts so often taken for granted... Each of us contains within us
this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, containing past and present expectations,
sacred memories and future promise. I can only ponder what small decisions my ancestors made that
is still affecting my life today. What ways do their actions still define our lives, and, perhaps,
our children and their children, this will always be mystery that hangs over us. Maybe that is my
purpose in this collection, to record our history, to preserve for my descendants an insight to
who we were. Maybe we will be better people and life will have more meaning if we believe we will
not be forgotten.
I do believe that one’s immorality lies not in some heavenly afterlife but in the legacy of
memories left by us, stories told by those who knew us and the curiosity of those
who know we once were.
As with all genealogy sites, I strive for accuracy, however, not all persons in this tree were
directly researched by me. Some of the more distance branches I took on faith of accuracy of the
source and gave credit to them. Tom and my direct ancestors have been research and documented
or are in the process of being researched by me or another reliable person. So I stand behind
their accuracy and I've noted if there is a question on lineage. If there is anything that is
grossly inaccurate, please, email me and I will explain it or change it. I want to have a broad
data base of names in order to cross and match with other trees. If one finds a hint here, futher
research can be done.
Lastly, I want it noted that I didn't do this by myself. My mother,Beverley, laid the foundation
for our family tree and gave me an interest. Many cousins contributed their own branches. Hub
Braun, Lynn Thompson and Kim Bitto and others gave me much information for which I am grateful.
Anyone who wants to add more or note corrections, please, contact me. There is always room for
more. Stories or memories are especially needed.
JRS
This packrat has learned that what the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but
the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved. In the end, it's the family stories
that are worth the storage.
-Ellen Goodman,
The Boston Globe
Index of towns, provinces and states in Europe from where we came.
Fischers: Nößwartling, Parish of Arnschwang, District of Cham, Province of Oberpfalz Bayern,
Germany
Warzenried, Parish of Markt Eschlkam, Distict of Kotzting, Province of Niederbayer
Bayern Germany
Kaikenried, Parish of Markt Teisnach, District of Viechtach, Province of
Niederbayen, Bayern Germany
Mueller: Ormont, Eifel Region, Bitburg-Prüm, Rheineland-Palatinte, Germany
Brandt: Afzfeld??, Bitburg Prum, Eifel Region, Rhieneland-Palatinate, Germany
Weires/Weyres: Feuerscheid and Lasel, Bitburg Prum, Eifel Region, Rheineland-Palatinate, Germany
Neiderprim: Malberg, Rheineland-Palatinate, Preußen (Prussia), Germany
Fließem (Fliessem), Bitberg-Prüm, Rheineland, Preußen (Prussia)
Rolfes: Oldenberg, Germany
Rodell: unknown, Germany
Doerflinger: Blankenlock/Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany
Reidenbach: Löllbach, District of Bad Kreuznach, Rheineland-Palatinate, formerly
Hesse Homburg, Germany
Windisch/Windish: Mommenheim, Mainz-Bingen, Rhineland-Palatinate, formerly Großherzogtümer
(Duchessy of) Hesse Darmstadt
Schnieder: unknown, Germany
Arneth: unknown, Germany
Sturino: Rende, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Ruffolo: Marano Marchesato, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Gentile: Marano Principato, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Savaglio: Marano Principato, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Padula: Brindisi di Montagna, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy
Brown: Unknown
Moden/Sizer: Cambridgeshire, England