Geneaology and Family Trees

I have always had an interest in learning about my family roots and geneaology.  My maternal grandma had an old photo album, that was black (with black pages) and filled with photos dating as far back as to the 1800's.  The oldest ones in the album were of our ancestors while they lived outside of Prague, Czechoslovakia.  My great-grandparents, on my mother's side, grew up in a little town called Kolin.  I remember as a child I would go through the photos with my grandma and ask her who the people in the pictures were.  Occasionally when I would visit as an adult, I would ask her again saying "one of these times I need to write this information down".  


Unfortunately by January 5, 2009, my time to get the information I really wanted, but put off getting for so long, ran out.  My grandma passed away quietly in her sleep at the age of 93.  My grandma did leave that old photo album, plus many more, to me.  I remember most of what she told me but there are a few that I'm not sure of.  I feel so honored to have such a priceless family treasure. 


About a year ago, I joined a website called ancestry.com out of curiosity.  As I started to fill in the blanks on my family tree, the little green leaf (like they advertise on the commercials) came up.  I clicked on them and found new information and links to my ancestors.  I spent hours researching and found all kinds of new information and pictures.  The next day I logged on and had a new message from another member.  I was delightfully surprised to learn it was from a distant cousin from my grandfather's (my mother's father) side.  I communicated with my newly found cousin and found out my great-grandfather was also his grandfather.  There were a lot of pictures he had taken from the Bohemian National Cemetery in Baltimore, MD where my ancestors from my mother's side were laid to rest.  He had posted many pictures and copies of newspaper articles along with obituary notices of our ancestors.


Although it was very exciting to gain so much new information, I was at a standstill with my grandma's parents from Kolin, Czechoslovakia.  I found a copy of the manifest from the USS Willhelm Bremen, dated 1911, where my great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S.  I've been in contact with a wonderful lady at the B. N. Cemetery in Baltimore and she has been a great help so far.  She is still in the process of helping me locate more information about my great-grandparents and their relatives.  It's not easy getting records and information from a country like Czechoslovakia but that won't keep me from trying.


As far as my dad's side of the family, I have an aunt (my dad's oldest sister), who has been tracing our family roots for more than 50 years.  She is a long time member of the LDS Church and has done a tremendous job with keeping up with our family records.  She has also managed to trace our ancestors as far back as the 1400's in England.  Last Christmas she brought some of her record books to share with me and I was amazed at what she had gathered all these years.  There were certified copies of birth, marriage and death certificates on many of our ancestors.  We are hoping to get together again soon so I can help her try to locate some more information and she said she would show me some methods of successful geneaology research.  I  hope we can work on it sooner than later since she is already in her 70's and her memory hasn't been so good lately.  


I have always had an interest in "where I came from" but I'm not only doing this for me.  I am also trying to put stuff together for my children, grandchildren, etc.  I think it's wonderful if you can obtain your own heritage and learn who they were and where they came from.

Here are some of the photos from my grandma's album.  They are all from my mother's side:

My grandma's grandparents taken in Kolin, CZ circa 1800s

My grandma and mother in early 1950's

My mother and her father in early 1950's

My mother (as a baby) with her paternal grandparents 1948

A postcard sent to my greatgrandfather from CZ

Far left is my great-grandmother (Anna) with her 2 sisters, Emilie and Maria.  She was my grandma's mother - 1800's in Czechoslovakia

The man in this photo is my great-great grandfather from my mother's maternal side.  I believe the baby in the center is my great grandmother.  This photo was taken in Czechoslovakia 1800s.

My great-great grandfather from my mother's paternal side circa 1800s