Mishpacha Anafim: May 2007

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Coincidence and Appreciation

Though I haven't posted anything since March, it doesn't mean I'm not working on the family tree. Research is always going on in the background and I'm usually waiting for documents of some sort or other to come in.

During this recent posting hiatus, I have been concentrating on the Scherper-Saffro-Katz-Schefrin side of the family due solely to the fact that Naomi Sherper (daughter of David and Julia, granddaughter of Avram Goetzl and Eva Leah) lovingly blessed me with the gift of a meticulously-scribed family tree compiled by Amrom Katz and Yale Saffro in July 1983. In the last 6 weeks, I have been doggedly working on verifying the information contained within it, adding details (dates and places of birth, marriage and death), and contacting newly-discovered family members. I must give Amrom and Yale much applause for being able to put this tree together so accurately without the use of computers or genealogy software programs. It is quite a work of art and I regret that I'm not able to thank them in person.

In my quest to contact family members, I last Saturday called Judy Rosenthal, daughter of Myron and Blanche Shepard (Scherper), granddaughter of Avram Goetzl and Eva Leah). During this phone call, Judy told me about her children, Michael, Dana and Joel, and in the process told me that her daughter Dana (pronounced Donna) is a professor of sociology currently working in England. I immediately mentioned that my brother Adam is working on his Ph.D. in sociology in Boulder and Judy added that Dana had been in Colorado Springs before moving to England. After getting off the phone with Judy, I called Adam to let him know that he had a cousin in the same field, and to our utter, almost-speechless (I'm not speechless often as those of you who know me can attest) amazement, he actually knows Dana! Yowzer! This type of coincidence I have not come across before.

So my work (more a labor of love) continues with the help of recently-discovered cousins who are able to add new generations since 1983 and put me in contact with other cousins. I thank you all for your help and appreciate any contributions (additions or corrections) you provide.

Needed: Copies of Old Photos & Documents

One of the best ways to further genealogy research is to search out old documents like birth, marriage and death certificates, old passports, naturalization papers, wills, landsmanshaften papers, and pictures. They often times contain tidbits of information that on the surface seem meaningless, but in the end are the key to an important family finding.

If you come across any of these family documents in cleaning out old drawers and files, PLEASE forward copies to me either by my mail or email. Your help is greatly appreciated.

The Chosen

We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.

Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves.

How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say.

It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us.

It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers.

That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before. --Unknown Author

Mishpacha Anafim

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Coincidence and Appreciation

Maps of Ancestral Towns

Needed: Copies of Old Photos & Documents

Genealogy Websites

Favorite Family Sites

The Chosen

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