WDYTYA - And Heritage Travel

WDYTYA (Who Do You Think You Are for those not in the know) is a hit, at least with the genealogy world. The blogosphere and Blog Radio and message boards are ablaze with opinions and comments about recent shows. Seems to me these shows are as analyzed as Sunday football games, not that this is a bad thing. We genealogists have been waiting a long time for someone to notice our little hobby.

What I find interesting is that the main comment being made is how simple the TV production makes genealogy look. All you have to do is show up and someone places generations of family records in your hands. We all know that in real life that rarely happens. Of course with the advancement of things on the internet you sometimes will find a family tree online that has generations of your family and this will point you in the right direction but as with most things on the internet you should always do your own sourcing of this information.

The other comment made often is, I wish I could pick up and go to my ancestral towns like they do. I think most people think this is something you must be a celebrity to do also, which is definitely not the case. Finding that overseas hometown for most genealogists is the jackpot and being able to visit that place is the icing on the cake. Just as things have become easier to find with the internet, planning and going on a heritage trip is easier too. It really is the culmination of all the time spent on researching your family lines when you get to walk the village streets your gr-gr-grandfather did. I’ll be doing another post soon on the 10 steps to a Successful Heritage trip or you can get the booklet from my website www.familytreetours.com .

After having my own incredible experiences visiting hometowns in France and Germany, I fulfilled a lifelong dream of helping other people have that experience also. Family Tree Tours has taken many people to visit their ancestral hometowns in Germany and as one tour member commented, “All you have to do is show up”, much like the experience of the celebrities on WDYTYA, we take care of all the details for you. You show up and will we get you to your hometown and will have someone there to meet you, who speaks English, and who will show you around the town, church and perhaps your ancestor’s home. In some cases tour members have been handed generations of their families documents that helped fill in all their missing pieces. Add lectures by local historians who paint the picture of their life and the opportunity to see living history museums with examples of how they lived you come away with the whole story. Best part is you don’t need to be a celebrity, this trip of a lifetime is there for all.

For more information about our Heritage Tours see the website www.familytreetours.com or email me at info@familytreetours.com.

Treasures from Ancestral Hometown Visit

Snowed in, I guess you’ve heard that a lot of the country had a blizzard. So this gave me an opportunity to get some things done that I normally think I don’t have time to do. One of these things was to wash the dishes that I keep in my dish buffet. As I replaced some of them, my dishes from France took me back to my first trip to Europe and memories of my mom and our trip to her grandfather’s hometown.

I recently did an audio clip describing my ancestral hometown visit for our newly re-designed website (see http://www.familytreetours.com/) and then seeing the dishes really took me back. I was a novice genealogist, way back then and this was way before internet and emails, I learned the ropes the old fashioned way. Anyway, my mom knew her grandfather came from France but nothing else. Don’t we all have these facts? We got some information from a cousin of my mom, with an address of some relatives she thought, that her father visited in 1931. Well this was almost 50 years later; this seemed like a dead end. But my mother was a bull dog genealogist, no stone unturned. She wrote them. Surprise, surprise, they answered! Some of the family still lived there. We did a genealogy dance that day.

Through the ongoing correspondence we had with them they translated, “We would like to visit someday” to “We are coming” and we were deluged with letters from other cousins to visit them too. So my mom, aunt and I decided to go.

I suggested since we were going all the way to Europe we should see some other things too, so did one of those “if it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium tours”. Nice overview of lots of countries but nothing in depth and too rushed. When this was over we took a train from Paris to Metz, France where our elderly “cousin” had planned to meet us with a rose and a newspaper under his arm. This reminded me of something out of a 1940’s spy movie but was very endearing.

We were whisked away to meet about 100 cousins (well maybe 30) all with tables laden with food. French pastries are very hard to resist. We had a wonderful time, learning about our family, meeting relatives and sharing stories. Poor translators were working overtime.

After a few days in the city, we then were driven to the small village my great-grandfather was born. This is very small village near the border of France-Germany called Loutzviller. (I find it interesting he ended up in Louisville, KY)
He had been a blacksmith as his father and grandfather before him. The home he was born in was still there and three generations of the family lived there. They showed us a photo taken around 1900 of the home with the blacksmith shop attached, of course now it had been remodeled.












They showed us the room that the grandfather was most likely born in. Amazing. We walked through the village to the centuries old church, saw where the family had been baptized, married and buried from. The altar had a large canopy over it, something like what is over the altar at St. Peter’s in Rome. The story we were told then was how during WWII, the canopy was taken down and hidden in a nearby cave, they were afraid it would be damaged during the war. As this village was near the border of Germany it did suffer much damage and the church was pretty demolished, but they rebuilt using as much of the old material as they could and they were able to replace the canopy.



As I walked through this town and looked over the landscape that I know had not changed much in the century or so since my gr-grandfather left, I was filled with such emotion. He probably looked over this scenery one last time before he said goodbye to his mother. Was he excited to leave or sad? You who obsessively search for these elusive ancestors can understand how I felt. We know intimate details of these people’s lives, we’ve dug up every document of every important event in their life and to stand, finally, in his place, see the landscape he saw, walk his village streets, brings tears to your eyes and an emotion that is hard to describe. I felt him smiling down on us and for some silly reason, I felt at home too.

So, what do dishes have to do with this? While visiting this village we went to a local restaurant for a delicious regional lunch and the dishes they served it on contained scenes of village life from this part of Alsace-Lorraine. I had to have them. So we found out we could buy some and I promptly bought 8 plates and my mom bought 8 dessert plates.


For the rest of the trip I hand carried my precious cargo and although the memory of how it was to get through the airport way back then has faded, did we go through any kind of security in 1978? I do remember luggage with no rollers and bags packed with enough clothes for 2 months and my dishes that I had to get home. They made it and I still use them on special occasions. Every time I bring them out they remind me of our first ancestral trip, relatives that are now gone, the many years of joy I spent doing genealogy with my mom and the feeling of home I got in a very small village in France. I wish you all that feeling!

Have you had a feeling of home in an ancestor’s town, I would love to hear about it.

Unterknausen, Germany

Today I am excited to have a "guest" blogger on my site. Jean Funk was on our last trip to Bavaria in Sept. 2010 and she has a great story about her trip to her German hometown. Thanks Jean!!

I always knew that my Grandfather had been born in Unterknausen, Germany, but I knew nothing further. My mother and her sisters told me that my grandfather was an orphan and had been raised in a Catholic orphanage and had been sponsored by his uncle Michael to come to the United States. He worked for his uncle’s bakery, selling bread from a horse-drawn carriage on the streets of Chicago.

One of my aunts had a beer stein that had information regarding the years he served in the Army in Germany from 1900-1903. It told the name of his cavalry unit in Ulm.
It took me long time to find him on the passenger lists, but I did find him coming to the United States with his uncle Michael and a neighbor young lady from the same time, who Michael also sponsored. It turned out that that young lady married my Grandfather’s brother in Chicago.
One of my aunt’s had my Grandfather’s naturalization record, which said that he came from Ellwangen.

In January of 2010 I went to the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City. This was my first attempt at reading the old German script (with a lot of help from friends and volunteers). I was able to find my Grandfather’s brother’s birth and christening in the IGI. It showed that he was born in 1875. After that, the records were not appearing for the family in the IGI index. I later found out this was because of the privacy laws. The information I received told me the family went to the church in Jagsztell, Wuerrtemberg. I was able to find the microfilms from the church and was able to put three generations of the family together. I found out the name of my great grandmother and found out that she had four illegitimate children, three boys and a girl. One of the boys and the girl died quite young. I was also able to find my great grandmother’s siblings and her parents.

With this information, I felt somewhat prepared to take a trip to Germany to see what I could find. Friends from my genealogy group took the trip through Family Tree Tours previously and had wonderful luck in locating “family” and ancestral homes.

In September, my husband and I took the trip to the Franconia area of Germany. Arrangements were made ahead of time through one of the tour guides in Germany. He made arrangements for me to meet with a mayor from a nearby town. That town had published a book of the area, and I was able to get a copy of the civic records in that book, which was sent to me before my trip. It also turned out that the mayor’s wife is a descendant of my great grandmother’s sister. Arrangements were made for him to meet us at the train station near Unterknausen and spend the day with us. What a day he had planned!

First, I got to meet the grandson of the third sister who had owned the family home. He is living in the house. This house was built in 1834 and purchased by my great great grandfather in 1850. He raised six children in that house. They had one other boy, who died shortly after birth.

The house was purchased by the youngest sister and her fiancée in 1887 just prior to her first marriage. After her husband died, the house reverted back to her. When she remarried, her husband became the owner of the home.

I was given several civic records, which included copies of the original family registers, a wedding contract for my great great grandparents, and a contract when my great grandfather purchased the house.

Oh, the thrill of actually being in the house. As you can see from the aerial photo below, this is a large home, which had the original stable on the first floor on the right side of the house. The house is in extremely good shape and is still being used by my new “cousin.” We were welcomed into the home and invited to have coffee and coffee cake. I was also given pictures of Uncle Michael and his family (the one who sponsored my grandfather to come to Chicago). I had never seen a picture of him, and he could have passed for my Grandfather’s twin. There was no doubt they were from the same family. He was shown with his wife and children. I knew two of his daughters in the picture. I had met them as a young girl, when they were in their 70s.

We were also invited to the mayor’s home for a dinner meal at one o’clock in the afternoon. I can’t think of a greater honor than being invited into someone’s home.
We were treated so nicely, and I was thrilled to have met some new family members. The feeling was so surreal. I tried to explain to my new cousins that my heart was so full, and I really couldn’t come up with the words to describe how wonderful it was to find the family home.
I was so thrilled that the mayor spoke very good English, because my German is not good, and the cousin in the family home speaks no English at all, although his sons do. Before we left to go back to our hotel, the mayor got a call, and my cousin wanted us to come back to the house. Of course there was more food! My cousin wanted to introduce me to his youngest son who is 16 years old. It was nice to meet him and find he does speak English. He promised he would translate for his father , if I wrote a letter. The mayor handed me two books as gifts. They both cover the history and photos of the area.

This was probably one of the most memorable trips I will ever take!

Jean F.

More German Christmas Traditions

On the evening of December 5th, St. Nicholas Day, German children leave their shoes or boots outside the front door. That night, Santa Claus, Nikolaus, visits and fills them with chocolates, oranges and nuts if they’ve been good. His servant, Knecht Ruprech, leaves bundles of twigs in the shoes if the children have been naughty and are listed in his ‘black book’.


In some parts of the country, it’s believed the Christ Child sends a messenger on Christmas Eve, das Christkind, an angel in a white robe and crown, bearing gifts. There is also a figure called der Weihnachtsmann, Christmas Eve Man, who looks like Santa Claus and also brings presents.
It’s traditional for parents to lock up a room before Christmas. In earlier times on Christmas Eve, they would wake their children at midnight and take them into the room, where the children were delighted to find the tree lit up with presents waiting for them underneath it. There were also fruit, nuts, marzipan, chocolate and biscuits to eat. In some homes, this event was made even more magical by ringing a bell as a signal for the children to enter the room. Carols were sung, the Christmas story was read and the children opened their presents.

Nowadays, most German families attend mass at 4:00 p.m. and then return home at 6:00 p.m. to eat, read the Christmas story and then open their presents.

German Traditions & Holiday Customs

The month of December is here and people all over the world practice their traditions handed down over centuries. I thought I would tell you about a few from Germany, one of our favorite places to visit.

The Legend of St. Barbara

The traditional feast day of Saint Barbara is December 4th, and this date plays a key role in the interesting custom that bears the name of this virgin martyr. According to legend, Barbara lived in Asia Minor in what is today Turkey. Her father was the pagan emperor Dioscorus, a suspicious, untrusting fellow who persecuted Christians and kept his daughter a virgin by locking her up in a tower whenever he was away.

One day upon returning home, Dioscorus noticed that the tower where he kept his daughter under lock and key now had three windows instead of two. Puzzled, he asked her why she had added a window in his absence. Barbara then made the mistake of confessing that she had become a Christian, and the three windows represented the trinity of her new faith. Incensed, her father demanded that she renounce this heresy. After some time had passed and she still stubbornly refused to deny her new religion, her father commanded that she be tortured and beheaded. The legend further says that immediately following this gruesome event, Dioscorus was struck dead by lightning (which may explain why St. Barbara is often invoked during thunderstorms).

Another important element of the Barbara-Legende concerns her imprisonment, and led (so they say) to the Christmas custom that bears her name. Depressed and alone in her cell, Barbara found a dried up cherry tree branch, which she moistened daily with a few drops from her drinking water. She was greatly consoled by the beautiful cherry blossoms that appeared just days before her impending execution.

Irish Research & Heritage Tour July 9-19, 2011

$1750.00 pp dbl
$200.00 sgl supplement

A dazzlingly green emerald sparkling in the Atlantic, Ireland is surrounded by tumultuous oceans and guarded by great sea cliffs. Over the years thousands of emigrants left this beautiful island to faraway destinations. Perhaps you are descended from these brave emigrants and you want to return “home” to learn what their life was like and why they left. Join us for our journey back to our Irish homeland.

We start off by spending several days in Dublin, accessing records from the National Archives and the National Library of Ireland. The National Archives has a free genealogy service, to advise visitors on their family research, where to go and how to use relevant records. Optional sight seeing in Dublin will be suggested for those who don’t want to research. We also will spend a lively evening at the Abbey Theater for dinner and an Irish show.

We then travel down through the lush countryside to our next stop of Kilkenny. Kilkenny is home to a Castle and the Rothe House. Rothe House is the Family History Centre for Kilkenny city and county. In addition to possessing a detailed computerized genealogical database at Rothe House, they also employ a genealogist who will assist you in researching your family tree, tracing your ancestors from Kilkenny city and county. From this home base we also will visit the Dunbrody Emigrant Ship in New Ross. Dunbrody was a 19th Century three masted sailing ship that brought many emigrants from Ireland to North America during and after the Great Famine. You will explore the ship, fitted out exactly as it would be for a voyage. You will encounter actors, playing the role of emigrants, in their cramped quarters with their meager possessions, fleeing as they are a worse catastrophe. They will tell you their harrowing stories of being forced to emigrate. A member of the crew will tell you the story of other voyages and all about life on board a sailing ship. Here, also, you have the opportunity to access a huge database of emigrants who sailed from Ireland in the nineteenth century. Back in Kilkenny we have a fun evening at the Kyteler Inn.

The next two days find us in the Blarney/Cork area. On our way we stop to see The Rock of Cashel (also known as Cashel of the Kings) in County Tipperary which is home to the ruins of a great Celtic cathedral. We stay near the Blarney Woolen Mills shops for those who want to bring home souvenirs and we also will spend some time at the Cobh Museum along the southern coast of Ireland. The harbor and the town has been the last sight of Ireland for many thousands of emigrants. Over 40 thousand men, women and young girls were transported to Australia from here and millions more left during the famine years for the new world. It was the main transatlantic departure point from Ireland up until the late 1950s.

It was the last port of call for the R.M.S. Titanic on her ill-fated maiden voyage, where she took onboard mail and 123 passengers who were emigrating to the U.S.A. Also from Blarney, we will take a day trip in the charming port town of Kinsale, where we have a guided walking tour.

Then it is time to head up north as we make our way to our hotel near Shannon. On our journey north, our coach driver will entertain us with stories and maybe songs of Ireland and we will make a stop in the picturesque village of Adare, with its quaint thatched roofed houses, medieval monasteries and ruins.

Our last day will find us stepping back in time to see how our ancestors lived at the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park where 19th century life is vividly recreated. Set on 26 acres, the impressive park features over 30 buildings in a ‘living’ village and rural setting. Meet and chat with the Bean an Ti (Woman of the House) and various street characters including the Policeman and Schoolteacher who give the site its sparkle during the summer months. Enjoy the tastes, scents, sights and sounds of this enchanting place as you stroll from house to house or around the charming village complete with school, post office, doctors house, hardware shop, printers and of course the pub! Tonight is our farewell dinner, where we share a toast to our wonderful time in Enchanting Ireland.

There will be free days for you to visit your hometowns, due to our using a motor coach there may be additional transportation costs for you to get to your hometown.


Trip Includes:

9 nights Hotel
Daily Irish Breakfast & 7 dinners (1 at Abbey Theater which
Includes Irish Music show)
Ground Transportation by 16 seat Motor Coach
Research Help at National Archives in Dublin
Tour of Kilkenny Castle
Tour of Dunbrody Emigrant Ship
Entrance Fees to Cobh Heritage Museum
Entrance Fees to Bunratty Castle & Folkpark

Email: info@familytreetours.com or familytreetours@charter.net for more information or Reservation Form

New York City - Washington DC Tour 2011

I usually am talking about trips I have already been on but I thought I would tell you of some of the upcoming trips for 2011. Perhaps you would want to join us, or know someone who would be interested. We are planning on travelling April 15-22, 2011 to attend a genealogy conference at the National Archives on April 20 -21 but we will spend some time in NYC before this. Here are some links for you to get a jump start on preparing for the trip!

Very interesting article here, and a great research resource for those of German descent

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10316/1102598-51.stm

Hopefully, we will be able to see these files at the National Archives in DC

http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/

http://www.castlegarden.org/

http://www.ellisisland.org/

New York City-Washington DC Tour
April 15- 22, 2011
$1299.00 pp dbl

This time we explore our ancestor's experience here in the U.S. What did it look like and feel like to arrive at Ellis Island? Of course a lot of our ancestors arrived before Ellis Island but we will learn of all these scenarios on a private tour with a retired National Park ranger, who will explain in great detail our immigrant ancestor’s arrival in the United States. We also will stop to view the Statue of Liberty, who has welcomed so many to the land of freedom.

We take a neighborhood walking tour and learn what you might have seen and experienced negotiating the streets of the Lower East Side a hundred years ago. Explore the day-to-day challenges and opportunities immigrants might have faced as you visit sites where they worshipped, studied, conducted commerce, and debated politics. Then later we tour the Tenement Museum, a look into how thousands of immigrants lived in New York City through different centuries. Also in NYC we step way back in time and visit a museum located in a Revolutionary War time period tavern. Fraunces Tavern was built in 1719 as an elegant residence and purchased in 1762 by tavern-keeper Samuel Fraunces. The tavern played a significant role in pre-Revolutionary War activities and later housed early U.S. government offices of the Departments of War, Treasury and Foreign Affairs (today’s State Department). It is best known as the site where General George Washington bade farewell to the officers of the Continental Army on December 4th, 1783.

Then we will take the train to Washington, D.C. where for the next few days we will have all the research material available at the National Archives at our disposal. I am excited to tell you that we will have a special lecture by Dr. John P. Colletta, a very entertaining speaker who will give us an overview of how genealogists should use the Archives and stories of immigrant experiences.

The next couple days we have time for private research. On Wednesday & Thursday of this week the Archives will have their 6th Annual Genealogy Fair. You can attend classes and visit vendors or still spend time with your own private research. For a look at what kinds of material is available at the National Archives see this site. http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/

We also will explore the beauty of our Capital city at night by taking an Evening Monument Tour.

Tour Includes:

A Family Tree Tours guide traveling with you for the duration of your trip
Accommodations with private bath: three nights in NYC (Newark, NJ)
4 nights in Washington, DC
All continental breakfasts when specified and often times full breakfasts.
Meals noted including welcome gathering, midweek and farewell dinners.
All expert local guides, naturalists and specialists on itinerary outline
Historical walking tour in NYC
Guided Tour of Ellis Island with retired National Park Guide
Guided Tour of NYC’s Tenement Museum
Museum visit and entrance fees to Fraunces Tavern Museum in NYC
Amtrak Train from NYC to Washington DC
Lecture by Noted Historian, Dr. John P. Colletta
2 day Genealogy Conference at National Archives in Washington, DC
Nighttime Monument Tour in Washington, DC
All hotel taxes and government fees
Gratuities as applicable for meals as specified

We meet in Newark at hotel,

Please contact me, Kathy @ info@familytreetours.com or familytreetours@charter.net

if you have any questions or interest in this trip.