Digging Up the Past

Paradise on the Steppe by Joseph Height

A phone call from out of the blue last week was the latest of several events that have sent me on a genealogical journey to once again dig into family history. It’s almost like God has been dropping little hints lately that it’s time to get back to researching my ancestors’ roots.

First, a few weeks ago, my uncle discovered that my grandfather wrote a song in the 1930s, so Mom’s been sending me updates on his progress in finding the lyrics and sheet music.

That got me to take the plunge and purchase new genealogy software. I’ve been working on genealogy off and on for years, but when we switched from PC to Mac I had to stop for over a year until I found Mac software that could access all my previous work. Fortunately, Family Tree Maker for Mac was able to successfully import all my data from the old PC version I had been using.

Finally, a woman who heard we might be related called me up to say that the Germans from Russia Heritage Society was holding its international conference here in Spokane where I live. My dad’s German ancestors settled in North Dakota after emigrating from Russia, so I immediately dropped everything to attend the conference. It was a once in a lifetime chance to spend time looking up data in the GRHS library, which had been transported via U-Haul to Spokane from North Dakota.

One of the first things I did was purchase Paradise on the Steppe by John Height, an outstanding cultural history of the men and women who left the Alsace region in search of a better life in Russia, but who eventually ended up in America and Canada.

Though I’m only about 40 pages into the book, so far it’s been fascinating. I hope to continue writing about what I learn as I dig deeper into our family tree.