My grandmother passed away in 2003. While cleaning out her home, my mom ran across my grandmother's birth certificate. Funny thing about the birth certificate was that the father was not the grandfather she had always known. The father's name was Adam H., a baker.
Who was this Adam H? Eager to find out, she contacted her siblings (my aunt and uncle) and they were as shocked as she was. How could my grandmother go her whole life without revealing this bit of information? This is where the fun starts. My grandmother was born in Chicago in 1919. Her younger brother, Bud, was born 3 years later. We wondered if Bud's father was also Adam. Unfortunately, Uncle Bud had passed away 9 years earlier. However, his children and widow were still around, having relocated to the east coast several years earlier. My mom decided to email her cousin and see if she was aware of all this. Luckily, she did and the info she was able to provide was priceless. It turns out my great-grandmother Edna got married to Adam at the age of 18 and they had 2 children, my grandmother and grand uncle Bud. In fact, Bud was actually named Adam Jr. at birth. When Edna and Adam were divorced still remains unclear, however we do know that Edna remarried a few years after Bud was born. Edna's second husband, Steven C, a butcher from Minnesota, then adopted Edna's 2 children and they took his surname. In fact, Adam Jr's name was changed entirely to Richard C (but went by Buddy or Bud). (Interesting side note- After doing some research years later, I found out Steven was also previously married in Minnesota and he had a son who died after only a few months and his name was Richard. I suppose this is how Adam Jr became Richard, as a tribute to Steven's late son.)
Now we are still unclear why Edna and Adam got divorced, however after some correspondence I had with a relative of Edna's step-sister, I learned that Edna was not the most innocent type. Remember this was the 1920s in Chicago. It turns out Edna was a flapper. Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a new breed of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.
Back to Adam- my mom's cousin informed her that before Adam's death he was able to reconcile with his son (Bud) and even went to visit him and his family. My mom's cousin even got to meet him several times when she was younger, although he was introduced as an uncle at the time, not their grandfather. Not only was Adam a veteran of WWI and WWII, but after the war he became a brother of the Franciscan Order (T.O.R.) and was a missionary in India. That's right, he was a friar! My mom's cousin even sent us photos.
Unfortunately, we still don't know if Adam tried to reconcile with my grandmother. She was a very stubborn woman and probably just couldn't get over her feeling of abandonment by her birth father. We probably will never find out the reason Edna and Adam divorced and where all the hard feelings came from. But I do know after hearing all of this, I wanted to learn all I could about Adam H and that started my interest in genealogy. Not only him, but all of my ancestors. I have been hooked ever since.
Being quite proficient on the internet, I went to ancestry.com and started my family tree, focusing first on Adam. Turns out he was the 6th of 8 children of German immigrants Nicholas and Anna , born in Chicago. The information I was able to gather on their family was mind-blowing. Someone even had their line professionally traced back to Germany all the way to the 1600s (my 9th great grandfather Gerard). I was even able to correspond with many descendants and was even invited to their family reunion last year. They were all so excited to meet me.
This was just one story from my several years of research. But it was this story that got me started and hooked on genealogy, so I figured I would start with this one. I am really fascinated by history, especially the story of immigrants to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some say I am obsessed with this hobby, lol. If anyone ever needs any help with brick walls, I'd be happy to offer any assistance I can. There is nothing more gratifying than solving a mystery or breaking down one of those brick walls in genealogy. Thanks for reading! And yes, I know my great-grandmother married a butcher and a baker. Too bad she never met and married a candlestick maker, for the trifecta.