After talking a little about geneology in our Mennonite Literature class I decided to look deeper into my ancestry. A few years ago I had done some geneology work for a class at my community college so I knew my grandparents had some information on our history. I remembered that on my dad's side my family had been Mennonites but what I found on my mother's side surprised me. It turns I come from a very Mennonite background on both sides of my family. In leafing through an extensive booklet of Neuhauser (my maternal grandmother's maiden name) geneology written in 1975, I found among my relatives names such as Menno, Amos, Ezra, and Noah. When looking at last names, I was surprised when I came across common Goshen College last names such as Yoder, Amstutz, and Miller.
I had some questions concerning the first two generations in the book because the author was not sure if they were correct. At the suggestion of Ann I took my questions to Joe Springer at the Mennonite Historical Library on the GC campus. Joe was so helpful. He could answer all my questions. Within minutes he had looked up my family online and could say "these are your relatives." I was so thrilled. And he was able to confirm this information through a copy of the shipping log from the ship my great great great grandfather came to the U.S. on from France. He also found his birth certificate from 1808 written in sprawling french and read it for me and gave me copies of all of this. He showed me how to use ancestry.com to do more research on my own. I have always been interested in geneology and I am grateful to have this resource of the Mennonite Historical Library available to me. I was able to go back five more generations from this great great great grandfather. I plan to research other branches of my family further and see what interesting things I am able to discover and share with my family.
Kim, what exciting research! To actually see your ancestor's birth certificate, written in sprawling French! What a tangible link to your past! I'm so glad you met Joe and that he was able to help you so specifically. To discover traces of one's unknown ancestors lights up one's understanding of family in a whole new way.
ReplyDeleteThat's incredible! It's wild that you came into the class saying you're not from a Mennonite background, but after research you actually are!
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if this changes your perspective on any Mennonite literature you read. Will it make you feel more "connected" to the work, or will your reading lens stay the same?
Nevertheless, this is an awesome story and makes me want to form my own "discoveries" of my heritage. :)
THat is really interesting that you looked into your family history AND found MEnnonites in there!
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing when I was in elementary school that Justin Timberlake's grandfather was a Mennonite. Proof that we were meant to be. How hilarious to look back on. Hearing you say, Kim, that you have ancestors with Mennonite names makes me wonder just how many people who have no apparent connection to Mennonites actually might have a little Mennonite in them after all.
Dang! I think everyone in this class is lucky! Including Ann! Once again, I am left out of the loop of heritage. I can only fully go to my grandparents and I only have three of my eight great-grandparents. Why? One of my mother's uncles has the family tree and he won't let ANYONE look at it or anything. Even worse than that: my dad's dad's side of the family has completely DISOWNED the family.
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