Meanwhile, speaking of policy, of which Trump has none, J.D.
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Karen Strickholmreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @lolonurse Most of my German ancestors left in the mid-1800s, there was an immigration wave of "German free thinkers" back then. Not sure they were specifically part of that but they were in NYC and in areas like music and architecture. My grandmother's side. She married a man from the deep south with heritage going back to pre-revolutionary times, owned slaves and plantations. Later divorced, rare for the time. Other half is Estonian. So interesting, America!
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@KarenStrickholm @wdlindsy
There is (was) a priest in NM who learned he was a crypto-Jew, & he helped his congregation figure out how many were Jews. One of my great-great-grand-uncles went to CA in 1849, found gold & went home, but another one moved to NM, married, lived in Albuquerque with his wife & son & daughter. He's buried in Truth or Consequences. I have a photo of them in front of their cabin. I gave their info to the NM Jewish History museum/archives. -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @KarenStrickholm These stories are so fascinating. I had a whole book recounting them, and after reading through it, put it out into my little free library and was glad to see that someone took it.
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@KarenStrickholm @wdlindsy
I love genealogy, family histories, all of it. I could talk about it and listen to people's stories for hours. -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by [email protected]
For me, the same. I hope this is not oversharing, but since we've discussed this story at some length here, I thought I'd share an encapsulation of it I wrote to share yesterday on Facebook, where I maintain a presence primarily because it allows me to keep in touch with a wide circle of relatives. Four interconnecting pieces below — l-r top and then l-r bottom.:
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lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @KarenStrickholm
Such a sad thing. Why do humans love to confirm their own ignorance? -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @KarenStrickholm Perhaps it's somehow engraved in our brains, a certain groove, to act that way.
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Karen Strickholmreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @lolonurse Gonna read in a bit when my tablet is charged up. Looking forward to it!
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Karen Strickholm last edited by
@KarenStrickholm @lolonurse I hope it will be of interest. Not really new information that I haven't already shared here, but it draws the whole discussion together in a single narrative.
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lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @KarenStrickholm
I got pulled away for a couple of days, but wanted to say there is a house in a small town in Westphalia that was built in about 1650, by my 8 or 9X greatgrandfather, before Jews were required to have formal last names. His name, Pinchus, was engraved in the lintel over the front door. That home still stands, with the lintel, & is occupied by a Gentile family who know the home's history. Some of my family have visited, taken modern pics. -
lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @KarenStrickholm
I enjoyed it, felt drawn in. -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @KarenStrickholm I'm glad it wasn't a big bore.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @KarenStrickholm What a wonderful living "memory" of your family going back so far in time to a specific place. A number of years ago, my husband and I went to the village just outside Cologne in North-Rhine Westphalia from which his 2-g-grandparents emigrated to Wisconsin. He did research in the Catholic church records there, and had a surprising discovery: both of his 2-g-grandparents had a Jewish grandmother. This seems to have been totally forgotten in his very Catholic family.
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lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @KarenStrickholm
My entire maternal side were Westphalians, some near Cologne (Köln long ago). And pretty much every Jew in Westphalia could point to a couple of dozen others who they were directly related to, and another hundred who were second or third cousins. Maybe we're 6th cousins, thrice removed! -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @KarenStrickholm You may well share roots with my husband back in time. As you know, Jewish folks migrated up the Rhine into what became Germany a very long time ago and became an important part of German culture. The interesting thing about my husband's discovery is that the knowledgte of Jewish ancestry had been totally suppressed in his devoutly Catholic German-American family. Yet his immigrant ancestor with a Jewish grandmother looks in his photos very much like a rabbi.
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Karen Strickholmreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @lolonurse Sad to say but at a certain point it was most likely quite dangerous to admit to any Jewish connection.
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Karen Strickholmreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
Hey all! Meet my pal @the_icarian aka Bob. Bob, around this point a bunch of us started chatting about books, geneology, clothing, tuberculosis, peanuts, true love, philosophy, gender issues, the west, Judaism, more. A virtual dinner party of super-interesting people and ideas. Please read our ramblings (comments in non-orderly manner), join in as you wish. Anyone else, too!
All, for hashtag what about #DinnerParty or #DinnerPartyChat?
CC: @wdlindsy @lolonurse @3dogcouch @jinglepostman
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Karen Strickholm last edited by
@KarenStrickholm Welcome to the conversation, Bob. Those hashtags sound great, Karen. I like thinking of this conversation as a dinner party!
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Karen Strickholm last edited by
@KarenStrickholm @lolonurse Yes, and the other factor, I think, is that by the time the Nazis arrived on the scene, there had been centuries of these kinds of cultural and religious crossover marriages, so that having some Jewish blood in one's "pure" German lineage really wasn't uncommon.
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lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @KarenStrickholm
Hi - sorry to have been off-tracked for a couple of days. I wanted to say that being Catholic in Germany was no bed of roses either. After Martin Luther, & then the Protestant Reformation, if you weren't Lutheran, you weren't going to have an easy time.
Hitler also killed Catholics. And it's possible your hubby's family contained some crypto Jews, forced during an inquisition to convert or die. Like the big group of Mexican Americans...1/2