Family history is about more than dates and places; it’s about the stories we remember or discover. And sharing these stories is a wonderful way to remember our ancestors.
Amy Johnson Crow has started another year of challenges for each of us to tell the stories of “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.” Each week also has an optional theme, with the theme for this first week of 2020 being “fresh start.”
A Fresh Start for the Peters Family
Map of immigration route created by JRS Sr
In 1859, my 3x great grandparents, Joachim and Henriette (Bünger) Peters, and their six children immigrated from present-day Germany to the United States. My great aunt Beulah, who passed on her love for genealogy to me, shared this story about their fresh start:
Joachim and Henrietta Binger Peters immigrated to the United States in 1859 from the Province of Mecklenburg, town of Gustrow (pronounced Geestrow), Germany, by departing from Hamburg, Germany, then from Southampton, England. They brought with them their six children ages four to fourteen. Seven days into the voyage, Joachim gathered his family around him. and they all knelt on the floor of the cattle boat that carried them, and gave thanks that they were leaving Germany. Joachim said Germany would try to rule the world one day, and he wanted his family away from there. When they arrived in the United States, they settled near Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio. They started their migration to Sumner County, Kansas in the 1870’s. They were of the German Lutheran religion.
Although we will probably never know if Joachim actually predicted that Germany would one day try to rule the world, this is a family story that can be remembered because my great aunt wrote it down.
Record Your Stories
What stories are you recording so others will hear them and pass them down? Maybe you’ll consider joining me in recording the stories of 52 ancestors (or other family members) in 52 weeks.
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