Apparently, my father’s side originates from one of the oldest cities in Germany, and many people and places there share my surname. My uncle has been, so I thought it was interesting.
Not sure about my mom’s side. All Polish, though. Both families came here during the Civil War, and my dad’s grandfather lied about his age to serve in the military. He was either fifteen or sixteen.
My mother’s family came from a village near Munich in the 1770’s. My father’s family came from Scotland in the 1750’s.
My great grandmother went to Europe and spent a year there tracing our ancestors on my mom’s and dad’s side.
Using church records she was able to trace our ancestry back to before 1000 AD. Best part was she wrote it all down and had it bound in a book.