From May 25, 2002
Boy, have I been busy! Not just with the usual daily living, but with a project that I just can’t seem to put very far from my mind. Everywhere I go and in everything I do, they are there—in my thoughts, in my heart, in my blood. What are they? They are my ancestors. And they are in your blood, too. Every one of them. They are my project.
I’ll admit, family history is a passion of mine—something I find immensely fascinating and at times interestingly entertaining. It has always been a part of me, my historical background. Over the years, I have climbed around in our family tree many times, hung out on different branches for a while, and wondered, what would have happened if….?
Most recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research into our Russia-German ancestry. Not because someone told me to or because I feel obligated to, but because I want to. I enjoy getting to know these people, and the more I know about them, the more I know and learn about myself. In my need to know these people, I have developed a love for them that would otherwise have gone unanswered.
Our ancestors went through many hardships. Being German in Russia was to always live as a foreigner, in a country that had many problems within its own borders and leadership. Though these ancestors were educated and wealthy, they were not above discrimination and prejudices even amongst their own people. At the time that they began to foster ideas of leaving the country, Russia was already in turmoil with great losses in battles to Japan, with civil wars and bloody riots. The Volga Germans were not immune to the rampages and village raids so prevalent throughout the land. Being a military man, my great-grandfather must have known his days were numbered. He may have been a highly educated officer in the Russian military, but he was German, and trouble was brewing. Early in the spring of 1907, he packed what belongings he could and set out with his wife and four young daughters to Liverpool, England. Along the way, his infant daughter (my grandmother), became ill with diphtheria and they anxiously awaited for her health to return. Finally, when that time came two months later, they boarded a passenger ship and headed for America.
Room and board plus medical expenses likely did not come without a cost while detained in England. Whether they sold or exchanged their previous boarding tickets for less expensive ones, we cannot say for certain, but we do know, that like many immigrants, they came to America with little money. They stayed in the steerage section of their ship, the area below sea level where the steering mechanism is located. This area was usually crowded, dark, and damp. In good weather, steerage passengers were sometimes permitted on deck for fresh air and exercise (See Note 1). Because our ancestors traveled late in the spring, we can assume that the weather must have been fair enough at times, that the family would enjoy the fresh air, and the girls could play happily on the deck.
I can only imagine their feelings when they saw in the distance for the first time, the Statue of Liberty— beginning as a speck on the horizon, and growing larger and larger until no longer an object of discussion, but to witness first hand. Our story doesn’t end here, however. There were many inspections to pass before admission to the United States would be granted. Occasionally, families were split up and some members deported back to their country of origin. One such family that experienced this fate was completely torn apart when all the members except one were shipped back to their native land.2
Boy, have I been busy! Not just with the usual daily living, but with a project that I just can’t seem to put very far from my mind. Everywhere I go and in everything I do, they are there—in my thoughts, in my heart, in my blood. What are they? They are my ancestors. And they are in your blood, too. Every one of them. They are my project.
I’ll admit, family history is a passion of mine—something I find immensely fascinating and at times interestingly entertaining. It has always been a part of me, my historical background. Over the years, I have climbed around in our family tree many times, hung out on different branches for a while, and wondered, what would have happened if….?
Most recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research into our Russia-German ancestry. Not because someone told me to or because I feel obligated to, but because I want to. I enjoy getting to know these people, and the more I know about them, the more I know and learn about myself. In my need to know these people, I have developed a love for them that would otherwise have gone unanswered.
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| My great-grandfather, David |
Room and board plus medical expenses likely did not come without a cost while detained in England. Whether they sold or exchanged their previous boarding tickets for less expensive ones, we cannot say for certain, but we do know, that like many immigrants, they came to America with little money. They stayed in the steerage section of their ship, the area below sea level where the steering mechanism is located. This area was usually crowded, dark, and damp. In good weather, steerage passengers were sometimes permitted on deck for fresh air and exercise (See Note 1). Because our ancestors traveled late in the spring, we can assume that the weather must have been fair enough at times, that the family would enjoy the fresh air, and the girls could play happily on the deck.
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| My grandmother, Lydia |
My grandmother's family must still find their way across the country to a new home in Oregon. And within a handful of years they would return to Russia during a political and dangerous time, and escape with little more than the clothes on their backs in the dark of a night lit only by torches and flames, and punctuated by thundering hooves and screams of terror, confusion, and chaos. Is it time to wonder, yet, what would have happened if they had lingered, or stayed behind? I could fill a book with the stories of events that would follow.
George D. Durrant also wondered about his ancestors. He said, “I sometimes wonder what my situation would be if my great-grandfather Durrant had not been John Durrant but instead had been John Someone-else. That would mean that I would be one-eighth different than I am.
George D. Durrant also wondered about his ancestors. He said, “I sometimes wonder what my situation would be if my great-grandfather Durrant had not been John Durrant but instead had been John Someone-else. That would mean that I would be one-eighth different than I am.
“If great-grandfather John had made different choices in his life than he did, my life would also have been different. When the missionaries came to England more than a hundred years ago, he believed them. If he had not done so, he would probably have stayed in England and I’d be an Englishman.”3
Suffice it to say, that given the atrocities that followed during the Bolshevik Revolution to their families and friends, there is no doubt that my great-grandfather's fate would have been sealed.
“Genealogy is not family group record forms, pedigree charts, microfilms, name abbreviations, and technical regulations. These are only tools. Genealogy is the study of one’s family, the study of our ancestors—their birth, their childhood, their dreams, their marriages, their occupations, their children, their deaths. And because these things in the past all have an impact on the present, in a very real sense, genealogy is a study of one’s self.”4
Do I enjoy filling out forms, typing out dates and places too numerous to count? Not particularly. Am I good at it? I don’t think so. But I feel good when I am doing it, because I know that they care. My ancestors, my family, they care, and they are pleased.
Catch the excitement of who you are—your history. Begin to put down in words your own personal history. Start small, just write who you are, one sentence or thought at a time. George Durrant said, “My grandfather’s obituary reads, ‘He was neither prominent in the Church nor in the community.’ When I read this, I put the paper down and said softly, ‘Grandfather, you may not have been prominent in the community or the Church, but you sure are prominent in my heart.
Suffice it to say, that given the atrocities that followed during the Bolshevik Revolution to their families and friends, there is no doubt that my great-grandfather's fate would have been sealed.
“Genealogy is not family group record forms, pedigree charts, microfilms, name abbreviations, and technical regulations. These are only tools. Genealogy is the study of one’s family, the study of our ancestors—their birth, their childhood, their dreams, their marriages, their occupations, their children, their deaths. And because these things in the past all have an impact on the present, in a very real sense, genealogy is a study of one’s self.”4
Do I enjoy filling out forms, typing out dates and places too numerous to count? Not particularly. Am I good at it? I don’t think so. But I feel good when I am doing it, because I know that they care. My ancestors, my family, they care, and they are pleased.
Catch the excitement of who you are—your history. Begin to put down in words your own personal history. Start small, just write who you are, one sentence or thought at a time. George Durrant said, “My grandfather’s obituary reads, ‘He was neither prominent in the Church nor in the community.’ When I read this, I put the paper down and said softly, ‘Grandfather, you may not have been prominent in the community or the Church, but you sure are prominent in my heart.
“As I wrote my grandfather’s history, I had a very strange feeling. I could feel him near me, and in my heart I heard his voice: ‘My dear grandson, I hope there is something to make you proud of me, because I am deeply proud of you.’ Feeling his presence so near to me was an experience I shall never forget.”5
More than ever, I am so grateful that my great-grandfather had the wisdom and the courage to remove his family from harm while he had the chance. If he had made different choices in his life, then my life also would have been different. I cannot imagine myself one-eighth somebody else. May we all catch and experience the excitement of our history, and in turn, our own self-discovery.
NOTES:
1 Kids Discover, Volume 12, Issue 5, May 2002, 2
2 See Note no. 1
3 George D. Durrant, “Doing Genealogy: Finding That Glorious,
Elusive Condition Called ‘Balance,’ ” Ensign, Apr. 1985, 18
4 Ensign May 1998, A New Harvest Time, Popup note 9
5 See Note no. 3
More than ever, I am so grateful that my great-grandfather had the wisdom and the courage to remove his family from harm while he had the chance. If he had made different choices in his life, then my life also would have been different. I cannot imagine myself one-eighth somebody else. May we all catch and experience the excitement of our history, and in turn, our own self-discovery.
NOTES:
1 Kids Discover, Volume 12, Issue 5, May 2002, 2
2 See Note no. 1
3 George D. Durrant, “Doing Genealogy: Finding That Glorious,
Elusive Condition Called ‘Balance,’ ” Ensign, Apr. 1985, 18
4 Ensign May 1998, A New Harvest Time, Popup note 9
5 See Note no. 3
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