Skip to main content

Fresh Start

I have examined the term Fresh Start from multiple perspectives and they all pretty much look the same:  to start anew, to embark, to strike out, to commence, to get moving, to plunge.  But, as I change lenses, I see that I can apply them differently.  Let me explain.

This is my fresh start as I pause from examining names, dates, places and relationships and begin to tell the stories that surround those names and places. What was happening in the world that influenced their lives?  How did their everyday existence change over time?  What caused them to make the decisions they did?  What is the history?  Or, are they history in the making?

What started as two parents and four grandparents mushroomed into hundreds of grandparents.  Each one reflected in me in some way.  The names, dates, places and relationships will continue to grow as will the stories surrounding each individual.  It becomes a "NeverEnding Story".

Examining my twenty-five year old brick wall is where I realized that I had to start anew.  It seemed that there were no records accessible that linked my third great grandfather, Conrad Stiffey, to his parents.While repeating the same research time and time again, I became frustrated with my inability to find and document that connected to the next generation.  I decided that I was the problem.  I needed to approach my research differently.  I needed to increase my skills to research like a professional.

That led me to coursework.  Within that process, I examined every document, email and scrap of paper that I had about the Steffey/Stiffey family.  I recorded it.  I made charts, spreadsheets, chronologies, locality guides, posed questions, examined documents, and analyzed as I had never done before; and there it was, in front of me, the evidence that I needed to make the connection to Jacob Stiffey, my fourth great grandfather.  It was through that process that I realized I had learned so much of their story that I had to determine how I was going to share it.  It was a story that begged to be told.

Then I considered my parents who in 1955 sold everything they owned and left Pennsylvania embarking on a cross-country journey to California with two small children in the backseat.  That is another kind of fresh start.

Looking closely at the family I believe that there are instances where each family group or individual has experienced a time when they were faced with having to make some type of fresh start.  In telling their stories my goal is to understand the reasons for the decisions that they made and share those reasons in the context of history.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Disaster Strikes Joseph B. Shaner Family #52 Ancestors

It was late December 1887, and a typical winter day for Joseph B. Shaner and family in Cowansburg, Pennsylvania.  The snow was banked against the house and streets were slick with patches of ice. The holidays were behind them and the family had settled into their usual routine.  Rebecca got up early to make lunches as family members readied themselves to brave the cold outdoors to make their way to work or school. Joseph headed to the Coal Mine near Lash Post Office.   Rebecca’s day had started like any other.  She did some laundry, cleaned the house, baked some bread and prepared a pot of beans for dinner.  Later that day she heard a shuffling at the door. Joseph was on a stretcher! Fellow miners carried him indoors. The men quickly explained that he had been injured in the mine.  Dr. J. D. Milligan attended Joseph that same day, December 29, 1887, stating that Joseph had been crushed by a piece of slate that had fallen on him. The family stayed with Joseph night and

He Answered the Call #52Ancestors

Since I was a little girl, my favorite picture has been of my dad during World War II wearing a pith helmet.  I had seen many pictures of soldiers and watched many war movies with my dad;   in my mind his headgear in the picture was unusual.  It certainly didn’t match anything I had seen unless the soldier was British.   I thought he was so young, handsome, and distinguished in that helmet! George Dickson Altman was the eighth of ten children born to Samuel Kunkle and Mary Jane Eck Altman.  He was born 27 February 1926 in Wegley, Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, PA.   George registered for the draft on 30 June 1942.  He was eighteen. This was a man who wanted to fight for his country and was determined to join two of his brothers and a sister in the fight. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Multiple Registrations ,  The National Archives, Pennsylvania, citing George Dickson Altman Fold 3 [database on-line] https

Twists, Turns, Mysteries and Adventure - The Walldhauer/Walthour Family in Germany, Part 2

Times were hard. It was the winter of 1738 and Charles Frederick became the new Margrave of Baden-Durlach, Germany. A new ruler.   Charles Frederick (1728-1811) Portrait by Johann Ludwig Kisling, 1803 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Frederick,_Grand_Duke_of_Baden New rulers were frequent and their religious policy was defined by “Cuius regio, eius religio”, a Latin phrase, (whose realm, his religion,) meaning the religion of the ruler dictates the religion of his subjects. Disagreement and war about religion was frequent and constant. As Protestants and farmers, the Waldhauer family, and the community living in Baden-Durlach, Germany, were struggling to survive. Even though it was after the Thirty Years War, the  Margravate of Baden-Durlach was still trying to recover from the heavy damages that had been incurred. Fortunately, the area of little towns, Karlsruhe, Durlach and Pforzheim, was in the lower part of the Margravate and was Protestant. While, the peasants