Memories of Grandparents and Plans to Discover My Roots

The Author as a Young Boy

Remembering My Grandparents as a Young Boy

I was never very close to my grandparents as a young boy. One reason is that my maternal grandma and grandpa lived 200 miles away in Central Wisconsin. I suspect that I hardly knew my paternal grandmother because Mom and Grandma didn't care much for each other, and I barely went on any visits, although we only lived three blocks apart until 1954.

Even though I wasn't that close to my paternal grandma, I still have memories that I share in this article. I also remember my maternal great-grandmother. Most of these memories cover the first ten years of my life.

Before ending this article, I also detail my plans to research my great-grandparents and roots in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Memories of My Maternal Grandparents

Although I seldom saw them, I felt much closer to my maternal grandparents than my paternal grandpa and grandma. I guess it is because Grandma Schmidt (Ma's mother) and Mary, my youngest aunt one year older than me, showed me a lot of affection.

Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt lived at 903 North Walnut Street on the north side of Marshfield, Wisconsin. They had a small two-story house, and I always slept in a big unfurnished room under the roof when we visited. Grandma and Grandpa lived with Mary and another aunt Donna until she married in 1956. In the house were also mentally retarded Uncle Leo and a great uncle who we just called "uncle."

Grandma was a housewife who kept busy caring for Aunt Mary, Uncle Leo, and her mother, my great-grandma, who lived in a small cottage on a small hill a stone's throw away.

I remember my great-grandma as a tiny woman wearing glasses. She was probably in her mid-70s in the early 1950s and had a big wood-burning stove in her home. I called her "little grandma" and my grandma Schmidt "big grandma."

Grandpa like Grandma was in his early 50s around 1952-1953. He worked at Marshfield City Park and one of his jobs was feeding the animals in a small zoo. Unfortunately, Grandpa was an alcoholic and always had to drink in the morning before going to work. When he came down to the farm with Grandma to visit us, I remember that he always had to stop in the tavern for a drink before going to church on Sunday.

Although Grandpa was sober for the last year before he passed away in 1961, he died of complications from alcoholism when I was 17. "Little" Grandma died from a heart attack when she was in her mid-80s, and Grandma succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 73 when I was 28.

My Grandma and Mom

Maternal Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother

Remembering My Paternal Grandparents

My paternal grandparents lived at 960 South 63rd Street in West Allis, Wisconsin. They lived in a small two-story house across from the Allis Chalmers Corporation. What I remember the most about Grandma and Grandpa's house is that it had an enclosed front porch with a love seat where I spent a lot of time.

Grandma and Grandpa Kuehn lived with my two youngest aunts, Helen and Florence, who had rooms upstairs. Both aunts were in their late 20s in the early 1950s.

Besides remembering the big cat, Puddy, that they had, Grandma had a small chicken coop with about 10 chickens in the backyard. There was also a small cherry tree.

Grandma Kuehn was a housewife. She was born in Austria and immigrated to America at 17. She met Grandpa in Door County in Wisconsin where my dad was born in 1916.

Grandpa Kuehn, born in Wisconsin, worked as a laborer all his life. In the 1950s, I remember Dad taking me one time to see him working in the Milwaukee Stockyards. Dad once said that Grandpa never had any money because he liked to drink, make bad deals, and get cheated when drunk. Before he died in 1963 at around 78, I remember Grandpa always smoking a pipe whenever we saw him.

After Grandpa died, Grandma sold his old Ford car to Dad for $25. Dad then gave the car to me so that I would have transportation to my summer job in 1963. Grandma Kuehn died a year later in 1964 due to a heart attack.

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Plans for Genealogy Research

In 2013, my youngest sister sent me several photos of grandparents and great-grandparents on both my mother's and father's sides of the family. Most of the pictures were of paternal great-grandparents which my sister received from one of our cousins.

After looking at the photos and identifying some great-grandparents and even one great-great-grandmother, I resolved I would do genealogy research to discover my roots.

I began genealogy research in the summer of 2015 attempting to get free information about my ancestors from websites like FamilySearch, The Olive Tree, and Genealogy Today. Although I could find a few facts from birth and US Census records, I was always referred to Ancestry.com for additional information.

Ancestry.com gives you two weeks of free membership, but after that, you must pay to access their U.S. and foreign databases. These databases include US Census records from 1790 until 1940, birth and death records, and marriage records. They also include other records such as military service, immigration, and naturalization. Foreign databases include birth, death, marriage, and church records.

I could identify all but one of my great-grandfathers from my sister's records and photos. I have even been able to find one of my paternal great-great-grandmothers.

If I want to trace my roots back to Germany and Austria, I must pay for it on Ancestry. It is worth it because Ancestry will help build a family tree and find detailed records of my ancestors.

I plan to trace my ancestors back as far as I can and determine if there is any credence in Dad saying that our family has some European royal foreign blood. I also hope to find out information about my dad and maternal grandpa that no one in the family cared to discuss.

My Paternal Great-Grandmother

A Paternal Great-Great Grandmother

Conclusion

Memories of my grandparents have stimulated me to trace my ancestors' roots in Germany and Austria. My exciting and interesting findings will be shared in a future article.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2016 Paul Richard Kuehn

Comments

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 11, 2016:

Au fait, Thanks for your comments about your great grandmother. They are interesting. I joined ancestry.com about a week ago and have traced some of my ancestors back to the 1700s. They are from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I have already found some interesting things about my great grandparents and will be sharing them in future hubs. Thanks for sharing and pinning this article.

C E Clark from North Texas on August 11, 2016:

Looking back at ancestors can be very interesting and it can help us understand how we arrived where we are today. Of course grandparents aren't that far back and it's nice to reminisce. You have some great photos and you're so lucky to have them.

I like to go back as far as I can with ancestry. I've managed to get back to the mother countries where my ancestors originated. It can be so interesting to see the parts they played in the formation of this country and how different their lives were from ours.

My grandfather's mother, my great grandmother (one of them) was born right about in the middle of the U.S. Civil War. She died at 96 years old about 4 years before I was born. Knowing that someone makes it seem like it wasn't that long ago that we fought the Civil War. My great grandmother was born then and only died shortly before I was born and that makes that part of our history seem closer to me. While it was decades ago (more than that now), it was just a couple of generations before mine, making it seem closer.

Anyway, I don't mean to ramble. I think it's good to take stock of one's life and experiences every now and then. This article should be cherished for many years to come by your children/grandchildren, and beyond and help them so much in understanding their roots.

Sharing and pinning to Awesome HubPages.

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 06, 2016:

I really apppreciate you comments and agree that the importance of family research is priceless.

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 06, 2016:

Thank you for your comment and I'm pleased you liked my hub.

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 06, 2016:

@Gina , I am very happy that you enjoyed reading about my grandparents. Congratulations on tracing your heritage back to the 1500s in Wales. If i can trace my roots back to the 1500s, I will be extremely happy. The history of your ancestors and the part about owning a castle is really cool. Yes, it is important to know where we come from, and hope that my shared research with relatives will be one of my legacies.

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 06, 2016:

Jodah, good luck with your investigation of immediate family history. As i research my ancestors, I will also be looking into the origin of my surname Kuehn and my mother's maiden surname Schmidt.

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 06, 2016:

Thank you very much. I am very happy that you liked this hub and my old photos.

mactavers on August 06, 2016:

I liked your Hub. The importance of family research can't be measured.

Gina Welds from Tampa, Florida on August 06, 2016:

@Paul I was fortunate to have grown up with my maternal grandmother, and also had the pleasure to have known her mother, my great-grandmother. My great-grandmother died at the age of 104. My grandmother, however, died when I was only 12 but I treasure her memories and think of her everyday. I have a wall of fame which goes fro my great-grandparents at the top, to her with all her children,to my grandfather and then my mother at the bottom.

A few years ago I managed to trace my heritage all the way n=back to the 1500s in Wales to where our family name came into existence. I utilized Ancestry.com as well as the British version. The documented was almost 200 pages. Needless-to-say, my computer crashed and I lost it all. (BACKUP-BACKUP)....but at least I can go back and re-do it. It did cost almost $80 but it is money well spent to have been able to go back that far. I even found out that our family owned a castle. How cool is that? It still exists today but is in a history care (preservation), but it is on my bucket list to visit. It turns out that there are paintings in there that were created by my ancestors. Guess what: I am an artist! My whole family is creative. Talk about it being in our blood!!!

Thanks for sharing this. I bombard my kids with their heritage. :-) I share all the old photos I have and cherish them. A few years ago a category 5 hurricane devastated the island where a lot of my family lives and they lost everything, including treasured photos.

I think it is very important to know where you come from. It is beautiful. Again thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading this.

John Hansen from Australia (Gondwana Land) on August 06, 2016:

Paul, here is some of the basics of what I found in regard to the origin of my surname:

"Hansen is a Danish-Norwegian patronymic surname, literally meaning son of Hans. It is the third most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 4.3% of the population. Hansen is the single most common surname in Norway. The frequent occurrences of Hansen as a surname outside Denmark and Norway is due to immigration, though immigrants to English-speaking countries often changed the spelling to Hanson in order to accommodate English orthographic rules."

My grandfather was born in Denmark. Now I have to start investigating my immediate family history.

Devika Primić from Dubrovnik, Croatia on August 05, 2016:

The old photos are beautiful! You shared a great part of your life.

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 05, 2016:

Meg, Thank you very much for your comments. Unfortunately I don't have any relatives on my father's side and only a couple of aunts on my mother's side. It's imperative that I do my genealogy research now!

Paul Richard Kuehn (author) from Udorn City, Thailand on August 05, 2016:

Hi Jodah, I'm very pleased that you enjoyed my hub. Do you plan on sharing the origin of your surname and any of your family history? I think it would be interesting reading.

DreamerMeg from Northern Ireland on August 05, 2016:

Most families have secrets of one kind or another. Often we don't learn of them until after the main actors have died. It's the older relatives, not directly involved who can help us learn about these. I learnt about something only a few months ago from a cousin that was interesting, though not crucial.

John Hansen from Australia (Gondwana Land) on August 05, 2016:

This was all very interesting, Paul. It is always good to reminisce about our grandparents and look through old photos etc. I recentlylooked up the origins of my surname, the Hansen crest etc. Now I want to look back into my immediate family history. Thanks for sharing.