Singing from my heart, I’m proud to be an American. What does that mean? In the family history world to me it means that my dearest grandmother traveled here from Germany on a ship that took 3 months when she was 20 years old in 1922 when there was no government help, just your own hard work and whatever you could carry. She left her widowed Mother (age 45), her brother (age 12), her sister (age 17) and came to America with her new husband to a family she never knew and a land she never saw before with what she could only carry on her back to live.
Her mother was widowed with three young children in Northeastern Germany at a time when they lived day to day for their food and shelter and worked every day. They didn’t own anything themselves and they were always beholding to someone else for their life. It was a life that you and I can only read about and have no real understanding what that took to do. I know and saw she missed them horribly and wrote often.
Some families have stories that their great grandfathers fought in the Civil War and lost their life. This left a widow and young children at home barely being able to take care of themselves. I have seen a letter where the widow was begging for help and she could hardly feed her children. War and life circumstances were real and struggle was common place. Our ancestors came here and fought hard for these freedoms so that we did not have to live beholding to others and could make our own life. This freedom from our homelands was fought hard so that we did not have to pay all we earned to another country.
History repeats itself over and over again. To know your history will help you understand your family’s traditions and thoughts so you can understand what each generation endured. Therefore, family history will help you understand yourself.
Looking back, I am so proud to be part of America and be able to set my own goals, eat my own food and own my own home. I will never be able to thank those that fought hard for these freedoms and who continue to fight to keep our freedom to live. My heart sings, I am proud to be an American! So come with me now and see how your family came here and what struggles they had so that you too can be proud and sing it from your heart.