On the Road Again – Consider Travel to Fill in Gaps in Your Genealogy
On the Road Again – Travel and Genealogy
Several years ago, I was given an Ancestry.com DNA kit. For my immediate family, the DNA results were in line with what I knew of my heritage. Big deal I thought. It was a bigger deal than I realized. Since then, I have built a family tree of over 1,200 people, that has branches with ancestors dating back to the 1600s. so far.
The best things to come out of my trip through Ancestry.com was find a cousin I did not know I had and getting to meet her this year. Her grandmother and my grandmother were sisters! Add to that she sent copies of photos of my father from when he was a child. The only photos of him as a child I have ever seen.
Recently we traveled to visit one of my children. We did a side trip to a community where my father’s mother was born. I had known for years she was born there. The City of Leadville, Colorado had a large Jewish population in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Meyer Guggenheim, father of Solomon Guggenheim, and David May, founder of the May Company, both settled in Leadville in the 1800s.
Temple Israel was the main synagogue in Leadville during those years. Over the past few years, the building has been restored and is now a museum. (For those of you who are interested, the website is Temple Israel.) Even though I grew up knowing my grandmother well, visiting the synagogue/museum added a dimension to her that I did not appreciate before that.
My step-mother was born in Ireland. A few years ago, we visited Dublin and had the pleasure of meeting more of her family and seeing landmarks that were linked to the family such as the family home, the building were the family business was located, and the location of a bombing that occurred during The Troubles. Again, the visit brought that part of the family and Irish history closer to me.
In the 1980s, my father was in Germany for a conference. After the conference, he went to Hungary to find the town where his father was born. The town was what is known as a shtetl, a Jewish village. My father hired a car and driver, who had a broad knowledge of the area. The town no longer exists, thanks to the Nazis. It isn’t even a wide spot in the road. That means that any, and probably all, aunts, uncles, and cousins that I may have had, were killed during the Holocaust.
For many years I had a great resentment against the Germans for the Holocaust. After meeting and getting to know several Germans, and visiting Germany, I no longer harbor that feeling.
So, from which countries did your ancestors originate? Is it time to visit their homeland? What do you think you might find there that connects you to your genealogy? What might you learn from such a trip? If you are a fledgling genealogist, what might you learn about your family’s history?
I would like to spend more time in Ireland, Germany, and Hungary to see what bits of information I can find to expand the knowledge of my family history.
In your travels, I hope you can find what you are seeking.
Before you hit the road, check out Can’t Travel? Go Virtual! for ways to find places to visit.
Happy travels!
