My Family History

     I never thought that my family was special in any way or that my family history was anything that needed to be repeated. However, I now realize that everyone's history is significant because our families are part of what makes us who we are so, therefore, our family histories are quite significant simply because they are largely responsible for making us into the people that we are today. This class allowed me to further realize the significance of family and culture through the studying of the CRT tenets. For example, I began to see that we truly are all complex as well as compound individuals and we therefore all have unique stories to tell, and those stories are all significant to history, despite how insignificant they may seem at times.
      I began to research my family history mainly by asking my mom questions, many of which she asked my grandpa in order to give me accurate answers. I am only able to trace my lineage on my mom's side to the mid 1800's and I can only really trace my dad's family back to the late 1800's. I learned that my mom's family originally came from somewhere in Germany, the exact location is not known. However, they moved to the Black Sea area, and were known as the Black Sea Germans. In the late 1800's and early 1900's they immigrated over to the United States mainly for new opportunities and the "American Dream" that was reaching the ears of many foreign people at the time. We are not sure exactly how they came in but it sounds as though they came in through the Great Lakes and they settled in southern North Dakota, where many of them still reside today in rural German towns.
      Less is known about my father's family. All I really know is that they too came from Germany and they settled in New York City. Some of his family came through Ellis Island but some of them also may have come in from Canada. Specifics about where exactly they came from or why some of them came from Canada and others through Ellis Island are still unknown to us and may never be made known. However, despite not being able to know more about my family history and origins, the little that I do know makes me proud of my heritage and I now desire to try and learn as much as possible about my ancestry.