Goodbye to part of my history

Six weeks ago my grandpa Hans passed away. My last grandparent. The feeling of no longer having grandparents and with that loss the history gone, is an odd feeling.

Growing up I knew very little of my grandfather’s family. I would occasionally hear about a relative, but I only remember one of his sisters. When a family tree class project in my junior year of high school showed just how little I knew, I began my decades long journey through history.

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The few details….

I started with my grandma and grandpa’s names: Mildred (Kuhn) and Hans Kunze. Except for the fact that my grandpa was a German immigrant, that was all I could tell you. I began asking questions. If there is one beginner’s rule of genealogy it is this: Ask the older generation questions! Do this before it is too late. I admit that I never asked my grandfather many questions and I should have. I did ask my aunt what she knew and got a few details.

The cemetery where my grandmother was buried provided my first clue. I decided to do a search online of that cemetery and see if there were others buried there with the last name Kunze. Luckily, the cemetery had a website listing all of the burials with plot information. I was elated when I found two grave sites: one for Emma Kunze and the other for Carl Kunze. My research then took me down a path of discovering my German roots.

A History Uncovered…

1930 census records told me that the Kunze family was in America by that time. I also knew my grandfather was born in 1921. I narrowed down the immigration between late 1921 and 1929. For that time frame I knew the best bet for finding their immigration records was Ellis Island. (When I started my genealogy research the internet was no where near the scope it is today. Much of my research for the immigration records came several years after I started my research.)

After years of research, one of the best genealogical days for me was finding the immigration ship records. Carl came to the United States first in 1925 and Emma and their children came several months later in 1926. However, I didn’t just have the years of immigration. The ship record gave me the name of Emma’s father back in Germany. I finally got a name of a great great grandparent. I also was able to see the names of all of my grandpa Hans’ siblings.

From those records I was able to do more research on Hans’ parents and siblings by looking for obituaries in the local library where they lived. I also was able to go to the Health Department in the county where they lived and acquire death records.

The fortified brick wall….

The stopping point for the records I could find came quickly. The Kunze family was fairly new to the United States so the records are limited here. The records I did find often said ‘unknown’ in slots such as ‘parents names’. Also, because of privacy laws and records being restricted for a certain number of years, records are hard to come by right now for the time period I need.

My recent research has focused on Germany. Searching for records in other countries is not without its own headaches. Germany sustained heavy destruction in both world wars thus making records harder to find. Searches for Carl or Emma (Heinemann) Kunze in Germany have been fruitless but the chipping away at the brick wall will continue on.

A tribute to a hero…

The funeral for my grandfather was in one word: perfect. The military tribute, gun salute, playing of Taps, and American flags presented to our family made me incredibly proud to call him my grandfather.

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He was a soldier in the Army during World War II fighting against the country he had left only 16 years earlier. The same country his brother, aunts, and uncles still lived in. He earned 5 bronze stars and a sliver star for gallantry for pulling men from a downed plane before it exploded. He marched into his home country proud to be American and fought for us all.

Now, in a sense, I feel like part of my history is gone. My connection to Germany somehow lost. My goal is to keep that piece of my family alive through my genealogy. I vow to find out what ultimately happened to my grandfather’s brother, discover who Carl’s parents were, and in all hope- one day visit the town where Emma and Carl were born.

Piece by piece that brick wall will come down. I will see the other side and forever keep Germany my heart and mind.