your stories our stories
Your Stories, Our Stories
Each part of my family immigrated from different parts of Europe many years ago – mostly in the 19th century. Unfortunately, this is the principle reason I have few artifacts or links to my family roots. My mother’s family came mostly from Ireland, Germany, and England, and I have nothing from them that links me to their past. My father’s family was German and Italian and while I have nothing from the Italian side of the family, I do have a couple of artifacts from my paternal grandfather’s heritage. One interesting item I have is a small wooden whistle carved by my great great grandfather, Franz Kern, who was from the town of Ulm in Bavaria which is located in the southern part of Germany. He immigrated to this country in the 1870’s and got a job working on the railroads in Reading, Pennsylvania. It’s not surprising because the railroad industry was a booming industry in those days – much like the Silicon Valley of today. My great great grandfather Franz brought over to the United States perhaps what is the most interesting artifact from my family’s past, a family tree that was drawn presumably by some unknown relative, sometime in the 19th century.
The family tree was drawn on all parchment paper. It appears to be a combination of charcoal and watercolors and the tree itself seems quite old with small green growths of life coming out of what appears to be pruned branches. In the upper right hand corner there is a bluebird with a branch of his beak seemingly ready to add new life to the tree. The pruned branches of the tree show where there is death or a particular line of the family ends. There is even a blackbird perched on a small dead limb, symbolizing death. My family believes that this branch was an infant who died in childhood.
Perhaps what is most interesting about the family tree is the information it contains. Looking closely at the tree and its branches you can see parts of my family grow and flourish and eventually die off. The writing on the tree is in German as are of course all of the names in the various parts of the family. There are names that might seem laughable today to our modern ear – there are Wolfgangs, Henrichs, Johans, and Ludwigs. Not exactly names you hear often today. But this is, after all, a tree that reflects German families going back to the 18th century and maybe even before that. Interestingly, when somebody has died there is often a small cross next to their name, since my German relatives in Bavaria come from the Catholic part of the country.
The tree also reminds you of the passage of time. There is no name on the tree that I recognize or to whom I have any memory or relationship to or with. It chronicles families that have lived a long time ago but for one reason or another is the reason I’m here.
