Reunited!! EPIC FAMILY REUNION IN GERMANY | Tour our 'Original' Family Home
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- 3 generations ago, our ancestors immigrated to America in search of a better life. But after 140 years... what happened to the family they left behind in Germany? Who are they? Come along with us on this heartfelt family reunion.
Episode 64 | #genealogy #germany #ancestors #dna in Ostfriesland, Germany | Filmed June 4-7th, 2022
👉Quick Jump to Your Favorite Topic:
00:00 On the last episode...
01:00 Intro
02:14 Digging Through the Bremen City Archives
04:04 Does Jonathan Qualify for German Citizenship?
05:20 Emotional Family Reunion with the Schöttlers in Ostfriesland
07:19 Touring My Ancestor's Home in Germany
13:17 Where are they?
17:15 We Found the Family Farm & Ostfriesland Tee Ceremony
19:34 Why this Ancestry Research Means so Much to my Family
21:38 Prussian Guards to Kaiser Wilhelm I ?!
22:38 Can you Help us?
24:02 A Question for You
24:54 On the Next Episode...
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Originally from the Midwest of the USA, we moved to the #blackforest in 2013 and quickly embraced #expatlife. As American expats living in #Germany, things weren't always easy, but we've grown to love our life in Germany. We started this #travelvlog to share our experiences with friends and family, and to help those who are interested in moving overseas! Whether you are interested in moving abroad, working abroad, studying abroad, raising a family abroad, or just want to #traveleurope, we're here to give you a first person look at what lies ahead. 😊🎥🌎
Diese Videoserie aus Norddeutschland ist das persönlichste, beeindruckendste, tiefschürfenste, was ich in einem Jahrzehnt auf TH-cam gesehen habe. Meine uneingeschränkte Hochachtung.
Und schön, dass es Euch im Norden gefallen hat.
Als Norddeutscher kann ich nur sagen, Gänsehaut mit feuchten Augen...
My search for my German ancestors closely mirrored what you just experienced. To make 3 long stories short: 1) 1885 immigration to America: A great aunt had a letter dated 1930 from her German cousins. I went to the return address just to take a picture of the house. Well, the lady who wrote that letter in 1930 lived there and showed me a picture of my mother at 2 years old that was sent to them in the early 1920s!!! 2. 1855 immigration. My GGGrandfather put his hometown on this marriage certificate in St. Louis rather than the typical "Prussia" you often see. Plus, it was a very small town. I went there and found his home and it still had relatives living there. So, I have spent the night in the same home where my ancestor was born in 1838. He traveled to the US with the mayor of an adjacent village and his daughter (which he married 3 years later in St. Louis.) 3. I had a picture postcard from another ancestor from 1904. I took it to a Gasthaus to ask about the address. The owner was so thrilled he jumped in my car with my family and drove around the town looking for the house. He stopped at the house of the school headmaster who researched the address. It was bombed in WWII and that part of town was rebuilt. He also told me about more German cousins. These three stories were of different families: Two of which we are close friends with today.
Wow!! What an amazing experience that must have been! So amazing.
I love hearing people finding their relatives and going back to the places theirs ancestors lived, it’s an amazing feeling… you re-live their life, you feel them close near by you even some are gone for 100 yrs… it’s very butterflying feeling!!!
To see Jack sit among and completely naturally pick up toys your distant relative played with, at least three generations removed, was awesome.
Kids have such a natural instinct to pick up on something interesting. They are so easily fascinated by what many people would consider outdated, obsolete, or simply mundane.
When you talked about suddenly having family here in Germany, I got me some sniffles. That is sooo great to have a reunion of distant relatives and being accepted back as part of the grand clan, as if you had just left the week before. If only everybody could have such wonderful experiences, I believe the world would be a much better place.
/edit: 15:00 What were you babbling about in your text box about butchering the German language? While yes, there was an accent, it was completely understandable Hochdeutsch. Sure, when you get nervous you may have thrown about a few grammatically different positions but heck, still completely understandable, and the vocabulary was completely correct. So don't worry, I am certain a pastor should be able to 'forgive', right? 😁👍
Oh, and you have now experienced for yourself the effect of the six times removed effect. You contact someone, who knows someone, who knows someone... and so on for six steps, and basically you can trace your contacts to absolutely ANYONE on this planet. Not relatives, but contacts. So with you, Ashton and Jonathan, you contacted Jonathan's relatives, who contacted a pastor, who contacted the history buff, who gave you the location of the Oltmanns farm, so merely three removed. It is such a fascinating concept that with the right contacts you can find almost anyone or anyplace anywhere on this planet, you just have to dig deep enough.
Ach ja, und besten Dank an die Schöttlers und Oltmanns, ihr seid absolute Spitze.
thank you so, so much. This was overall just a wonderful experience and so much more than we ever thought was possible when we started. We are thrilled to share this video with our family members back home - I know it means a lot to them too to learn about our family history.
@@TypeAshton Will we see the reactions of your family members? I hope so much, would be so interesting if it is not too private to share here.
I did a DNA test which confirmed: on my father’s side, I’m British and German, while on my mother’s side, I’m Spanish and Native American (Aztec). So now if I’m ever compelled to take sides, I simply say, “I’m 100% for families. Otherwise, it’s simply not in my blood to take sides!” Cheers!
Thank you so much for sharing this emotional story! I am German and have started research on my ancestors around 15 years ago. The most stunning fact was, that I discovered that the founder of Stockholm (Sweden), many centuries ago, is my direct ancestor. Also some princess from Norway. This is nothing special, it's so long ago and these guys have a very high number of descendants. What struck me was the fact, that I always felt drawn to Scandinavia, especially Sweden, from early childhood, and I had no idea why. The moment I found these ancestors it was clear to me.
ich freue mich total über Eure wiederentdeckten Wurzeln. Sehr beeindruckened wir Ihr drei so geradeaus und authenisch dabei seid. Es wundert mich nicht, dass Ihr so freundlich aufgenommen werdet. Das geht ja gar nicht anders
This is one of the most enthralling "American in Germany" videos I've seen! Along with the previous one of course! If you could continue this "series" that would be amazing :)
Thank you so much. I think this series is going to be paused at the moment. BUT I think maybe in the next month or two I would like to explore more of the ancestry stuff.
@@TypeAshton You meeting your "family" just brought one thing back to my mind, that more people should be aware of. In the end we are all just people, with the same desires and fears. It would be much easier if we all would invite each other to be a part of our life. Imagine what we would be able to do. A dream, but a nice one.
So strongly agree. I am hooked and want to know more. That was amazing.
@@ingobordewick6480 But it's of no worth if being invited to someone's life or family is just a random thing to give away easily.
You stirred the tea? OMG, you really used that spoon and they still remained calm. They really, really liked you ;)
Hahaha omg I know I had ZERO idea of any of the etiquette for this 😅😂🫣
@@TypeAshton He's exaggerating a bit, I think.
Most of my fellow Ostfriesen these days are not all that strict.
But the traditional way to drink tea is to take one Kluntje for several refillements, and to do so, you don't stir (which will damage the Kluntje and increase its surface area, meaning it dissolves more quickly. And the milk/cream will form a nice flower and your tea will basically have a bit of different layers when it comes to the cream and sugar content. (The sugar tends to get to the bottom, so it will start a bit bitter, probably tempered by the cream, and then the final note will be very sweet.
However, as I said, most aren't that strict. In my family, we all stir, and many even omit the cream entirely.
An important part of the tea tradition is - you can signal that you are done and want no further refills by putting in the spoon. If they don't stop refilling - they were waiting on that signal! I think traditionally, you would do this after you drank 3 cups, because "Dreimal ist Ostfriesenrecht". ;)
If you do stir and take a new kluntje + cream with every cup, it's a very sweet drink that can compete with sodas. But ... it's home. I love it.
I also heard stories that sometimes farmers would actually pour team from the cup on the underplate so it would cool off more quickly and they could keep their tea break shorter to get back to work. I am not sure how prevalent that actually was, though. For all I know, it might just have been a "tradition" in the town of my grandparents or something. There is probably a tiny bit different difference in tradition - and also and especially "Plattdeutsch" - every other town!
Several things…my brother and I have been doing a deep dive on our ancestry for the last couple years. And just yesterday, I discovered that a couple of my German ancestors were born VERY near to where you currently live. Most of my other ancestors came from north/northwestern Germany. Also, Ashton, I am an Iowa farm girl and totally understood your discussion about the farmer generation coming to an end. I come from a huge family of farmers on both sides and now I have only a few cousins left in farming. And I have looked on Google maps a lot and have found, like you, that the areas where my German and Danish ancestors settled here in the US look very much like where they came from. I have (long lost) relatives in Denmark who have visited us here in the US and I would love to make a visit to them someday. How exciting for both of you to get this awesome experience! I really enjoyed the video.
Ashton & Jonathon, this is my favorite video of yours yet. I'm jealous of how far back you were able to go to in your family tree. My paternal grandparents grew up about 15 miles from each other in County Cork, Ireland but didn't meet until they emigrated to a small city in Upstate New York about 200 miles north of New York City. They both emigrated with, or were followed by, other family members. My grandfather was the only son in the family, and he brought his 4 sisters to start a new life in America.
My maternal grandmother was German and emigrated as a young child with her parents. She started her family in New York City shortly before the US joined WWI, my mom was the middle child and born in 1916. Because the hate for Germany was high in the US at the time, Nana hid the fact that she was German which was easy because she was so young when she emigrated that she had lost her accent. She almost never spoke German around myself or my brothers except when she wanted to swear. I learned scheiße when I was 5 years old.
My grandniece did some family tree research as a high school project. She talked to one of my older cousins that I had only met once in my life to get some background on my Nana. I remember her occasionally showing us kids her guns (her biceps) which was weird because she was this tiny wiry woman in her 60s by the time I was 5 years old. It turns out that Nana was a female wrestler in vaudeville in the NYC area.
That is AMAZING and such an interesting twist of fate that sounds so similar to ours. It is amazing how people from a different part of the world still seem to find one another. Thank you so much for sharing your story!
Wow, I am so overwhelmed by this story that I just can't think of enough superlatives with which to title it. IMHO this series is worthy of being aired on TV as it is. If only to make other people aware of it, who are not so much into TH-cam. And there are countless families who have such historical connections between Germany and America and can therefore identify with it emotionally. I wish that a broadcaster would take notice and contact you.
That’s a great idea, Opa Andre! I’m sure a news channel will pick this up.
Ah wow thank you SO much for such a kind compliment. We are just thrilled that so many other's enjoy the videos too.
Jonathan's relative is definitely his relative! At 7:40 when he starts to talk, I was really confused, why Jonathan ist now speaking with a German accent - until I realised this is NOT Jonathan, but in fact the German relative who is speaking. Their two voices sound so very much alike. Very fascinating.
We thought the exact same thing!
This story is touching and heartwarming even for me as a complete stranger.
Thx for sharing ❤
Thank YOU so much for watching. We are thrilled that you enjoyed it.
I am from Berlin, born and raised, and I did some research on my ancestors as well and did a DNA test to find relatives. One lady from Nebraska contacted me because we shared a tiny bit of our DNA (nothing special because you share less than 1% of DNA with a lot of people). But she wrote a message mentioning the girls name of my Grandma and some names of places in Eastern Pomerania that were close to Stettin (today Szczein, Poland) where my family lived until WW2. I did some research to find out more about my grandma's family and one of my older aunts remembered my great-great-grandfathers date and place of birth (1884). Unfortunetly, the church records of his home village ended in that very same year and his name could not be found. Now back to that lady from Nebraska. She had all the old church records from her German ancestors (born around 1830) who left Germany. So now we are still missing the linking ancestor that must have stayed in Germany to become my Great great grandfather's father or mother. At the moment, I think the only way to find out more is going to Poland to do what you just did, reading through thousands of records and knocking on doors. Maybe one day I'll find the missing link :)
That is SO fascinating. We would love to do a DNA test someday soon and try to trace back some of our family roots.
Go! I'm just back from Gdansk, the city my family left in 1919 to set up a new life in the Ruhr district. I didn't meet anyone, but just roaming the streets my grandfather must have walked until he was about 14 was worth the trip.
Some people with my family name still seem to be present in the wider Gdansk area, but the ones I contacted up to now weren't interested or no relation at all. Anyway, I won't give up!
Apart from the family thing I liked Poland immediatly, and the Old Town of Gdansk is stunningly beautiful.
"Moin" - It was really worth waiting for part 2 of your "ancestral expedition" in Ostfriesland. Did you know, there was a "Tatort"- commissioner, named "Haferkamp", starring Hansjörg Felmy, between 1974 and 1980? Yes, it's fiction, but Haferkamp! I thought I have to tell you when I saw you leaving the Bremerhaven railway station in the last episode. And the actor was born in Berlin!
Witzig, das wollte ich letzte Woche auch schon schreiben ;-) Cool, dass Du es getan hast th-cam.com/video/UH72Ae2Sc5s/w-d-xo.html
Endlich ist die Folge da. Ich habe das schon nicht mehr ausgehalten.
Hi, we are on the other side of these stories. We live in an old timber house which was build by a family who went to the US in 1925. My husbands grandfather bought the house from this family and it is in our possession since then. So we know the history. So ever now and then people show up in front of our house, looking for their roots. Over the years some of them became family and we even went to their family reuinion in 2000 in Michigan. Sometimes they even forget that we are not family, that we only live in the house. And lots of them spent nights in our house and I know how that felt for them. You must have had the same feelings.
Wow that is AMAZING! So kind of you too to welcome them into your home and to keep that connection. So heartwarming.
Such a heartmelting and touching story so wonderfully told! Ostfriesen are friendly but distanced to strangers - however, once the ice gets broken, they quickly turn into the kindest and nicest people on Earth (the spontaneously held Ostfriesentee ceremony was the ultimate and strongest symbol of welcoming, appreciating, and respecting you as FAMILY). I'm a 25% Ostfriese, my Grandma Friedel was born in Aurich on April 30, 2012, and later moved to Bremen in which I was given birth to. I neither know her maiden name nor the names of her parents (there's no one left I could possibly ask). So chances are extremely high we are related to each other as well, going back four or five generations.
I had to watch this and your last week's video multiple times in order to fully comprehend the scope of what this trip up North really meant to you guys. Coming in as strangers, knocking on doors and leaving as family - it couldn't get any better than this! Having shed lots of tears while watching your family's history, I hope Jonathan will dig out the missing link in Berlin to retain dual citizenship, which would make Jack a dual citizenship holder as well. As far as I know, you might be able to change your legal family name back into Schöttler as well. Nonetheless, thank you so much for appreciating this part of the Country I still call my home despite living in the South for some decades!!!! My mother's tongue is German, I do hope you're getting the point of what I'm trying to say.....
Both sides of our family were incredibly welcoming. This experience far exceeded our expectations of what was possible and we really feel as if we are leaving this trip with real family in Germany.
This must be the most fascinating holiday time for you ever. So glad for you that you were able to experience so much nice and interesting things during your research.
With those pictures, you also took me back to an area that was familar to me some decades ago. Thanks, I enjoy it a lot.
We had a saying about this area ... "it is so flat that you can see today who will come for a visit tomorrow".
I remember that saying😂
@@hansmolders1066 so do I !
LOL, ... yes... you can see on Saturday, who will visit you for Sunday's tea and cake!
@@rolandwittig9098 lol, so true, and time enough to bake before they arrive !
Links sind Bäume, rechts sind Bäume, in der Mitte Zwischenräume, in der Ferne bellt ein Hund. Wo Ostfriesen hausen, musst vorüber sausen
You are a really nice couple and I'm glad, that you party discovered your family history and routes in Germany. I subscribed. All the best to you. Greetings, from Budapest, Hungary, Europe. ;-)
Wow thats so amazing and the whole video has documentary quality!
Thank you so much! ♥️
Unglaublich süß! Those German Schöttler were clearly very touched to meet you, and they practically adopted you as their family.
You are so incredibly lucky and blessed to be on this journey. I mean they make TV programs for celebrities about them finding their ancestors. But many of us never get the chance. And what an entire world this has opened for you, quite amazing! And I have to admit, I had to dab my eye occasionally! What an adventure! You're Germans, you're Americans, your history spans the world. Cherish the fact that you are a Weltbürger now!
I just found your channel and have been binge watching. These two videos of you finding your German families were so cool. I have been to England to visit my grand mother, aunt, uncle and cousin. And I found my other grandmother’s home in Old Town Stockholm that she left in 1898 to come to Texas to go to school and live with her uncle and his wife. She stayed in Texas, got married and had 7 kids, including my Mom. I definitely feel English/Swedish. And Texan.😎👍
I was really touched by your story of searching for your ancestors. From time to time I do the same thing with my family roots but it's a long way to go find anything. Usually you go searching for your family name but that is the hardest line to follow in my family! My father was born in Berlin, his parents got married late and my grandmother was originally from a little village named Kopahn at the baltic sea in Pommern which is now Poland after WWII. My grandmother was a housekeeper and cook for a rich berlin family before she married my grandfather and she once cooked for Albert Einstein in that household she worked for, so I've been told. At WWII when my grandfather was a soldier, my grandmother and her 2 sons were evacuated from Berlin to their grandmothers house in Kopahn and although it was in the middle of a war my father had the most beautiful and memorable time there as a 6 year old kid. He always told us about this time and to his 70th birthday we made a family trip to Poland to see it for ourselves. From my mothers side my GGgrandfather was the coachman of the baron of Knesebeck which I found very interesting. Love your storys, greetings from the other end of the black forest!
As a person with ancestors in Lower Saxony, I've explored that particular lineage with a relative. We discovered the ancestral village and real, live, very distant cousins. On a map, I can point to five ancestral villages in Germany and Alsace. Much further success to you with your research!
I have been researching my German roots over the past years, so your video was emotional for me as I witnessed your own emotions.. My parents emigrated separately in the 1930s, and I am first generation American. I would love to have the opportunity to do the same in- country research as you. My father came from a suburb of Chemnitz in Saxony. I even have his home address as his father provided on his immigration form. Theoretically, I could visit that very spot. My mother was born in Cuxhaven in the general area you visited. Thank you so much for your tour.
Wow what a small world! I hope you can make it over this way to discover your ancestry soon. This was such a great experience.
I recently found your channel. As someone that also has German roots on both sides, I found this so very interesting. I have been working on Ancestry for the last few years. I actually had a grandmother that came from the Black Forest area, a grandmother that came from the Baden area and a grandfather that spoke low German. I always wanted to go to Germany myself. I got a passport right before Covid hit.
We are hoping to provide everyone with another ancestry update sometime next month. We really love researching our family history. Its a little pet project that we are thrilled to share with everyone.
Thank you for sharing your family search! You’ve given me hope that I too can find my German family. I am also a Schuttler (Schoettler), as well as in the very beginning stages of trying to relocate from the US to Germany. Again, danke, Tschuss!
Gettin into family history can be an exciting thing. I'm from Germany and traced my roots back to a middle age knight family in the Netherlands with the name "van Bardewiik". Nice to see, how you were welcomed by your "family". I literally had tears in my eyes.
My god, I seem to react more sensitive the older I get. So, your journey back in time really got me emotional. This is so great! BTW, having still relatively young twin boys we always go to this very region -- specifically to Hage Berum -- for vacation.
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Note #1: At 9:04, it should perhaps say 1796 instead of 1896 for Jonathan's 3rd great grandfather ?
Note #2: At around 22:00, the last name "Haferkamp" means "Oatfield" (if you didn't already know).
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Since you've been asking, two weeks ago I investigated my paternal lineage a little more closely and found that it can be traced back to about 1200 AD (which was pretty flabbergasting), with some totally unexpected results.
I couldn't stop crying,but only because I felt so happy for you. I once had the same experience finding more information about my ancestors. After the brother of my Grandmother passed away, we found a folder full of birth, death and marriage certificates, which allowed me to follow back my pedigree until 1748. Therefore I really know your thoughts and feelings right now. If you happen to visit Hamburg again,please go to the Auswanderer Museum BallinStadt, as they also help a lot,finding ancestors.
Thank you so, so much. This was such a fulfilling experience and we would love to visit the other Auswanderer Museums.
That's such a beautiful story! I've been very lucky that my family has been quite well recorded back to the 1600s. I grew up on our family farm from my father's side which is over 300 years old (the first record of someone living at the house is from 1706, but the house probably existed a while before that). So I grew up in and own a house that's older that the USA! My mum's family also got their records quite well in order, and most of them still live in the same region, so it's not that difficult to keep track of them. The only family members I know of that emigrated to other countries were my aunt who went to Spain and then to Argentina in the 1940s and then later settled down in Guatemala, and another aunt related by marriage who emigrated to Australia in the 1950s (this was quite an interesting and romantic story; she was a novice who fled from the monastery because she didn't want to become a nun after all and went on a ship to Australia where she met her future husband - another German - whom she settled down with in Western Australia). Our family always stayed in touch with them all and after the reunification, all of them finally were able to come visit us at our family farm. So when I was a child, I kind of experienced the same what Jonathan experienced with his family, but from the other side of the family (the part that stayed behind). I've always been wondering what it must have been like to belong to the part of the family who "went away and comes home at last", so it was especially touching to see what it was like for you both to find some connections to your respective families. The sad thing is that our family branch that keeps track of all this and owns the family farm will end with me - similar to how you are feeling about your dad's farm, Ashton - so there will be a day when my family members will not be able to come back to their roots anymore.
Now I know why I find you so likeable from the first video I saw.
Your deepest roots are in Northern Germany.
Both videos about researching your family roots moved me a lot, there were also a few tears.
There is a rumor that the North Germans are cold, unfriendly and unapproachable!
Your video shows how the North Germans really are!
As I heard, you live in southern Germany?
There is also an interesting and long
History and of course great people!
-
And, finally, a little friendly advice for you.
Stay who you are, don't try to become "German"!
Your experience from your life so far is too valuable to change it
Because honestly, who in this world is typical (German, American or other?!
From now on you are subscribed!
All the best for your family.
Best wishes from Hamburg.
Rü. :)
It is an emotional feeling for me to see that both of you who have the same German blood running in their veins like us are coming back home again directly into our arms after having left and lived some decades abroad. Just feel at home here. This IS your home !
I truely had to shed a tear while watching your video! What an experience! Not only walking the streets your ancestors walked on but meeting your relatives, what a flight of emotions this must have been. The time, your ancestors emigrated was a time of extreme poverty. Especially the children of farmers had very low perpective unless it was the oldest son, who inherited the farm. Younger sons could either marry into other farms if there were no sons there, or they were forced to go into servitude on other farms. So the promises of the professional recruiters who roamed the villages to recruit emigrants to the New World were very attractive.
This was such a great experience and gave us a lot of insight into the motivations behind why they would have left fo the US. Thank you so much!
You are a great family and a great Example for the strong connection between Germany and the USA.❤
So happy for you! I was luckier and and my grandfather was actually born in Switzerland. The Swiss government shared our names with the family still back in Switzerland. They too were/are very gracious in welcoming us to visit once they knew we were family! I was born in Chile and grew up in the US, so this is a treasure of kindness for me.
So happy for you that you could find your family roots in Ostfriesland. I am from Ostfriesland myself (not far from Oldenburg) so this was really an adventure which was so worth watching and I am also happy that you were welcomed so warmheartedly by your distant relatives. Best of luck with your further ancestery studies, this is so interesting. I also heard you speaking German today for the first time, Ashton. That sounds nice 👌🙂
Same (Auricher, lebt heute in Oldenburg) 😊 i cross my Fingers
Same here. I am from Varel and my wife is from Jever. We are living now in Oldenburg. It was so touching to watch your video. Goosebumps really! You found out so much about your both families. It must be overwhelming!
By the way: Now you have no excuse and have to celebrate a "Grünkohltour" in Ostfriesland :-D
I had a smile on my face for the entire video. I'm so happy that you two have found more about your ancestors. What an incredible journey!
Ah awesome. Thank you so much for watching!
Again: This series is amazing.
Thank you for taking us (random strangers on the internet, lol) along for this journey.
Happy to do it.
Many years ago my sister visited our relatives in Hungary, she was met by our uncle who seemed at the time to be known by everyone in the township. It turned out that he was the town drunk. I knew there was a connection.🤣🤣
I love your content...it is always brilliant. Really informative and entertaining.
Ah awesome. Thank you so, so much!
It is and what an amazing experience it has to be to find out that you have family in Germany.
Wow, I have been following your channel for a while now and only just now watched this episode. I was born and raised in Aurich / Ostfriesland! I can't believe your ancestors came from this area. ☺
This video is such a blessing!! I've had tears through part 1 and 2. I am going to Germany in May for the same reasons you have. A cousin found me through DNA, and the family farm is still in the family being passed down to the eldest son through generations. My family is from the Munster area, Hilltop and Wolbeck. They immigrated through the Bremen port also, so I will go there. Thank you for so much information. The church where they were baptized is still there, so I will go there also. I would also like to know what their lives were life before the one son left for America. Wish me luck
I like that museum you visited in Bremerhaven. Sometimes we Germans think being an immigrant has nothing to do with us, cause our lastname is „Schmidt“. But guess what, one of your relatives once was standing in a foreign country at a dock, speaking broken the local language, little money but big dreams for the future. Really gives you a different angle on things I would say. And great video by the way 😁
Tolle Geschichte…..toll gemacht …..Respekt
willkommen Zuhause 👍👋
I really loved those two videos and thank you for sharing this incredible journey.
My father had a simmilar experience when he was searching for parts of our family, even though we are from germany and still live here. His father knew of some of his side of the family that lived about a 3h drive from where he is orginially from and when he went there and met his 2nd cousin (i believe) and they talked about it a bit, she told him, how her mother was all about geneaolgy and called her up and asked if it was okay to bring in someone she is related with who would like to talk about it.
He told me how kind of unreal it felt when he met this 80+ year old women in her small flat, where she had laid out every foto she owned of her direct relatives and a family tree she made herself and they talked for hours and she was so excited, i would have really loved to be there.
For me it was, beeing the first to find and visit my great grandfathers grave. He fell in WW2 and my family got told where he fell but not exactly where he was burried. The town he was last deployed to is coincidentaly right around the corner of where i now live and so i went and visited every graveside for the fallen of german soldiers from WW2 and after about week of searching I found one of the gravesides with a giant bronz plate that had his name on it, which was a very sureal feeling.
WOAH what in incredible story!! That is amazing that you found it.
It is so interesting! My family left Germany in the early 19th century and we came back here in the early 2000s but I have never even thought about looking for the part of the family that stayed in Germany back then!
I actually teared up a little bit lol very emotional but I'm so happy for you both. I have always been interested in my ancestors and before I discovered my german ancestors I unknowingly had been in the same area as they were near mainz kastel and quite a few ancestors were born and lived in the frankfurt mannheim stuttgart strasbourg area. When I had visited mainz kastel I felt oddly at home like i'd been there before and couldn't place it and no wonder why lol :)
In another vid I noticed your family names being Ostfrisian. Just discovered this vid. Fascinating. My ancestors are from Weener, near Leer. They fled to the Netherlands because of the Franco-Prussian War. Really awesome video!
That's just awesome. Fighting with the tears right now.
Awe, I am so glad you enjoyed the video.
Gday BFF, I am so thrilled for both of you that you have discovered family history in Germany. I can see through your video how special and meaningful this has been to both of you and to share that with your TH-cam family is just heartwarming. I love you guys, I talk about your channel to my family and friends all the time. You are simply the loveliest couple and I thank you for your channel and allowing us into your lives. 😘😘😘
This was SUCH a great trip and we are so happy that we made our way up North. Thank you so much for the kind compliment. We are always happy to see your comments come across our videos and look forward it them every week.
Oh my goodness, seeing Jack with the toys… my breath caught in my throat. What an amazing video. Strackholt is so close to the area I go to a lot for work. How incredible that you found out all this and how welcoming your family are. It’s all so fantastic and soooo moving!
I LOVED how Jack really took to everything there. It was so fun seeing him explore the home that Jonathan's great grandfather was born in.
Hey, you both have roots in Germany! Congrats. Just imagine future family holidays on the beach in Ostfriesland, and visiting family members for "tea" again and again. For me, it was exciting to learn about my Jewish heritage. In the 20th century, my family did not talk about this history at all (guess why). But actually, I have many Jewish ancetors on my German Grandma's and Grandpa's side. But I haven't researched this family branch yet.
We would love to visit Ostfriesland in the near future, especially the islands. I can imagine that for many, researching their ancestry also brings up painful family stories. I wish you the best!
What a journey! This video was filled with so many emotions, loved it.
Thank you so much!
Positively fascinating! My own ancestors never made it outside of like a 60-mile radius from where I live in the last six or seven generations. But then it's the Rhineland, so, according to Harras's famous monologue in Des Teufels General, I probably have pretty much all of Europe and more in me. And in the grand scheme of things, we're all related anyway. ;)
Great point. That sounds a LOT like my mom's side of the family. Her family never moved around a lot. Although the US isn't "old" by European standards... I (Ashton) was actually the 6th generation to graduate from the same high/primary school. Something (kind of) rare in the US.
@@TypeAshton kind of royalty on the school, given the others have been as smart and willing to learn!
Hallo
Schön zu sehen das ihr eure Familiären Wurzeln in Deutschland gefunden habt.
Ein ganz großes Danke das wir euch auf dieser sehr privaten Reise begleiteten dürften.
Macht einfach weiter so denn ihr seid die nettesten und sympathischen Personen die ich hier auf TH-cam erleben dürfte.
Ach wow. Vielen Dank für so ein nettes Kompliment.
how wonderful! So glad you both had such a meaningful and unexpected reunion with your family heritage!
Thanks Gerad!! This was such a fulfilling experience.
Was für eine wunderschöne Reise in das Herz der eigenen Familie. Ich habe Tränchen in den Augen. So schön!
Danke!
I keep thinking of the TLC show Who Do You Think You Are? when I saw this meeting you had with relatives in Ostfriesland and Lower Saxony Dr. Ashton and Jonathan. No, you didn’t find any famous people in your family tree but it was illuminating all the same and a very enjoyable experience. Last week I posted that documents can’t tell you as much as much people can and it turned out I was right. Beautiful countryside and small towns and best of all you still have family living there! I have the feeling you’ll find out more in the years ahead and this series is only the beginning of what you’ll discover about your roots in Germany. If you guys still had doubts about why you moved there, this trip addressed them and in a word, its like things have finally come full circle. It was meant to be.
This was SUCH a fulfilling trip. We are so glad we made it up that way and hope to come back again very soon.
Ostfriese here living in Berlin for 30 years now. Your video made me sort of home sick. I love the Frisian warm-hearted people. And yes, being invited to tea is a serious thing. Thank you for sharing!
Love this video, II too am on my journey in finding my family history in Spain. My maternal grandfather as well as my paternal great grandfather was from Spain. Also my maternal greatest grandmother was English. I have travel to Spain so many times and I have always felt a strong connection in Spain as well as other Mediterranean countries that I’m planning on retiring in Spain. I’m also working on obtaining my Spanish citizenship through descend. It’s so great to see Americans, finding their true roots. I hope that you will be able to become a German citizen.
Wow, this had me really choked up a little bit and I am not even related. The amount of research seems incredible and I have to say your videos have some of the widest range of content. So I think that, and the research, are the fields where your videos excel (while I think the award for best editing, sorry NALF, goes probably to "My Merry Messy Life") among American content creators living in Germany. Hope you had a lovely time here in Hamburg, can't wait for the video.
It's so funny to see, that we're following the same people on TH-cam, including My Merry Messy Life, Nalf and Our story to tell, and of course the Black Forest Family. You get something different out of each of them. I got choked up too during this video. Roots and heritage are important. It made me very homesick too. I miss Germany so much!
For somebody who also does ancestral research, this story is incredibly touching. You were extremely lucky, to basically rejoin your family in the same place after 150 years. Wish you good luck for further research and been looking for results!
It was so touching I almost cried.
Ah awesome. We are thrilled that you enjoyed the video.
Never was this early but couldn't wait to know if you find out that you are cousins 😂
You're so lucky to be able to visit some places of your ancestors and to even find some relatives.
From my family it's hard to find anything because both of my parents where displaced persons, from Eastern Prussia (Poland) and Bohemia (Chechia), regions that before WW2 belonged to Germany (or inhabited mostly by Germans). In both regions it was impossible to get any information until the 1990's and almost everything on paper, archives and registers were burned, lost and gone forever, because of the war and everything afterwards.
Thanks for letting us be a part of the "Black Forest Family History Tour" .
Hahaha so the short answer is... We are probably related. We have family members with the same last name in the same town. BUT we traced our families back to the 1600s and couldn't find a common ancestor... So we're probably good... Or at least, we think so. 😅
Just wow! ❤
One funny thing about northern german family meetings is you‘ll meet a lot people you have just know they’re family somehow, so new family is kinda normal and you’re kinda used to being open to new people and family. And proper tea or a good meal is just the perfect welcome to make strangers new friends or family.
One of our coolest family story actually involves our family‘s foundation on my mom‘s dad’s side, this one ancestor was the sovereign‘s personal doctor and decided to turn his half of the property into a foundation that provides living space for old people that can’t afford living in the 17th century and doesn’t just still exist but it’s actually expended and the first time seeing it and hearing the stories in detail was just an amazing experience because my greatgrandfather sold the woodlands and invested it into the foundation. After suing the US Military to get a toll for using it and it helped consolidate it to add onto it and it’s around seven buildings now including a student home and an apartment building for single moms, you can rent a little garden parcel and walk around the little park. You can get care but still live on your own and it’s kinda weird to imagine one guy centuries having this idea to do do something about a problem leading to me being able to talk to family that’s the cutest caring couple just having their little basket with jams at the anniversary party showing us around.
The rest of my family is rural and naturally subversive in a way, they send dogs after Nazis and sued governments and really build a lot through hard work, pragmatism and innovation. My grandpa was really passionate about football and was a huge part in building the infrastructure for youth football in the region and traveled a lot for football, including Namibia a lot and was especially passionate about girls getting into football and his entire family was curious and open minded and his mom was over 90 and would still chase after the children and was one of the few that could hold the tornado I was and she was this sturdy full of life person and she just raised 6 children, had a garden and helped the jewish neighbors and was a real light and just welcomed everyone and imprinted that on her children. My Uncle was one of the happiest sensitive people that managed to thrive in politics by just staying kind whenever it got ugly and my father was majorly influenced by it and I love that approach too. The genuine confidence of the resilience to remain kind first is a family thing, him and his wife were a true team that always worked together and just danced through life together.
I usually end up somewhere similar and feel home whenever wind blows and it’s raining, both regions I‘m mainly connected to are rainy and windy with a lot of nature and I need the open space to breathe. Cities are nice to visit but it takes two days max for my feet to end up in a river, I need water and soil under my feet.
What an AMAZING story! Your family seems to be full of really courageous people. I think some day we would also like to share our family's stories about the second world war.
@@TypeAshton That’s brave, it’s a relevant but difficult subject in Germany and Austria with a lot of untold stories.
I was pretty lucky with my family being pretty blunt about not agreeing with them, openly telling the Nazis off was a position of bravery and usually a lot of privilege, some regions just had your back on that, sometimes even the father of the Nazirepresentative was blunt about how that was the stupid child, in Lower German in that case.
The interesting story from a political science point of view is the one of the families that agreed with some of the basic idea and changed some of their views over time due to seeing the horrors it leads to first hand. It’s interesting to see these kinda great human beings having been seduced by we‘re finally getting our pride back and as much as they reflected after certain incidents they remained mildly antisematic, my grandma destested the shoa and persecution of jews as much as she hated us buying a pair of tights in the formerly jewish store because that makes the rich richer. Those stories help understand the nuance and complexity of how could that happen a lot better and how to prevent those ideologies becoming law of the land.
I always loved the story of my grandpa thinking those Nazis were wrong about black people because one soldier smiled at his three year old sister and gave her candy, if they like children that genuinely they really can’t be bad people in general was his thought, it shows that love and empathy will trump indoctrination attempts to hate people for no reason. The power of joy and kindness.
Jonathan how cool is the fact that its exactly wagons what your ancestors did :D You are unknowlingly following in the footsteps of your roots by doing the exact same job kinda. I mean it has wheels :) Amazing video and I think that must be an allergy because my right eye keeps sipping ;) PS: Have you shared these family stories with your parentes and what did they think? :) When si the huge get togehter coming?
We talked about this a lot when we came home. Pretty cool that there is the predisposition to the mechanics and craftsmanship of building different modes of transportation in the Schöttlers.
You could say that making people mobile is deep in your genes!
Whether wagons or bicycles ... that's progress
@@TypeAshton Those wold wheels might actually still have DNA from your line on it :D Its amazing
That's really wholesome! Good that you found your family roots. I'd love to go back to my "home country" but yet again i'm also related to germany so i guess i'm kinda home already.
Thanks so, so much. This whole experience was so rewarding for us.
In 2011 our City Band of Meire Grove went to Holdorf where our Meyer and Imdieke ancestors came from in the 1850’s - 1870’s. We went there for their 150th Schützenfest! It was a big deal because the Governor was there. We were shown where the Meyerhof was and were told that Imdieke place was literally right next to them. We saw the baptismal font where our ancestors were baptized, and we got to march in the Holdorf Schützenfest Parade with the Musikverein Holdorf! The people there were so amazing and friendly, and we recognized so many familiar Last names. The area also looked like it does around here. Small towns with small farms. Amazing trip and those memories and emotions will be with us always.
What an incredible experience !!! How wonderful and exciting not only for you but also for your families in the US .
And it blows my mind how much you two have in common that you would never have guessed when you first met I bet : ancestors coming from the same area and emigrating to the US, ancestors serving Wilhelm I. and more. I mean the US is a huge country, right ?
Did you know that there are many different versions of Plattdeutsch ? Your 'new' family probably speaks Ostfriesisches Platt, then there is Bremer Platt in that area whereas me and my family speak Holsteiner Platt that is spoken in the countryside around Kiel and so on.
I still have an uncle ( he is 93 ) who told me that one of our ancestors emigrated to Minnesota ( a place many Germans went to ) but even a search via my heritage didn't help much since we don't know the exact time he emigrated nor his first name, and there are no photos in our family so there is no material to go from. I also wouldn't know what archives to look at. He might have been my great great grandfather or even one generation back.
I wish you luck with your further search and keep my fingers crossed that Jonathan will be able to get German citizenship !
And there is Plautdietsch of Mennonits. Some "Russlanddeutsche" (Russian Germans) talk Plautdietsch.
It is crazy how "full circle" the world can be sometimes. We had no idea when we met just how much our ancestors had in common.
@@TypeAshton fascinating.
@@TypeAshton And there are people out there who still don't believe in destiny...
A very heartwarming story indeed. Particularly interesting to see that Black Forest Family has roots in Ostfriesland, in some hamlets right in between were my father was born and were my aunt and cousin still live. It's a unique region, desperately poor in the old days.
Seams to me that we all are dealing with the Ostfrisean Family now, which is pretty cool imo
haha yeah! Perhaps we should consider a name change!
@@TypeAshton no please, just kidding 😅
very emotional
Emotional overload watching this myself. You won the lottery and I would get the German citizenship ASAP as things back here in the US are not looking good. Thank you for sharing the intellectual nature and warmth of the German people. They are eager to help you come home.
I am hoping I will get similar luck as well so I can find my family as I was adopted and get a Cambodian passport.
I am attempting to do the same as you are doing in finding family in Germany. My Great grandmother was Hermine Schendler auf Berlin. My great-grandfather also immigrated from Germany. They were married in the US.I am just beginning and could use any help anyone can give me. This video brought a tear to my eye. I am the last one and want to go home.
Exciting to watch your journey back in your family histories! (..and so well done...! Great job! ) Thanks for sharing.
Being German living in Germany, some months ago I startet to explore my own family history within Germany back to the late 1600s.
I learned, that some of my relatives in my family tree left Germany for the US in the 1850s. So, somehow similar to your archive search, but the other way around.... I will try to find some family members is the US.
How cool! I wish you the best in your ancestry search!
My family name is Eiben. When you were at the church, I saw it listed on the wall!
Pladdütsch is its own language! Definitely! And it has a huge variety! So, always good to have a local with you! And having a family (or even families for both of you) wo seem to be willing to re-adopt you is great!
And what you experienced here shows me again: Yes, I know (because I remember) there was a time when Germans (especially in the north) had that coldness and were difficult to become friends with. But I think since the beginning of the 2000s, Germany has opened up (mostly) and now you can have people as open and friendly as you have experienced.
What a mesmerizing journey this was to watch. Searching and finding your ancestors and the fact that your family roots are from the same area in Germany, amazing. Thanks for sharing with us.
Onion cutting ninjas everywhere T.T
I am so glad all of you had such a good experience exploring the traces of your german ancestors and even finding "new" familiy members.
Thank you SO much. This was such a fulfilling experience.
I have family that moved to the US, during WW1. Back then, the area I grew up in, was Germany, but is now Sønderjylland (Southern Jutland) in Denmark. It changed hands after WW1.
It was my grandmother's 3 brothers that moved, to escape having to fight for the Germans. None of them ever returned, not even for a visit.
But we have always been in touch with that side of the family. The difference being modern communication, such as the phone, and probably more reliable mail service.
So I have grand cousins in the US, although I don't personally keep in touch. Some of them have visited us several times, and visa versa.
It's quite amazing that the only difference between your story and my family's, is modern communication and 40 years between migration.
Another twist in my family's story, is, that we're actually from Germany. My family moved to the land, gained by the Germans, in the 1864 war against Denmark. Germans were encouraged to do so, to "germanize" the gained new land.
After WW2, my grandfather went to Germany, to look up archives, about our family in Germany. But many records had been destroyed, during the war.
We know where we came from in Germany, but not much else. But we found out that the family had a wappen - a coat of arms, and that one of my ancestors was a baron. Dating back to year 1366.
Wow what an interesting family story and connection to geo-politics! I think sometime in the future we would like to make a video about our family's connection with the second world war. Such fascinating stuff.
Awesome!
I have goosebumps watching you video. I happy for both of you finding your Ancestry here in Germany.
Thank you so, so much.
Bravo I applaud your great sensitivity in balancing telling the story but not involving the other people as "extras" in your video. Thanks for sharing your story with me so far. You are going to struggle to be able to "top" this episode. I thought the genetic testing one was pretty "full on". I hope you can balance your life with not thinking, how can we edit this into a video. For me you are doing a great job so far.
Of course. It is important to us that we do not over expose people and honestly - we didn't want our first interaction with our family to be pushing a camera in front of their faces. This trip was very personal and in the end we wanted to do it for our own family history and not necessarily just for TH-cam.
wunderbar
That is so amazing!
So cool
Einfach nur schön!
Love it!
Danke für diese wundervolle Reise ❤❤
Sehr schön. Freut mich sooo...... für euch eure Wurzeln gefunden zu haben. Der nächste Schritt müsste eigentlich sein nach Ostfriesland (in die Heimat) umzuziehen! :o)))
It is so awesome! I am so glad for you.
It was so overwhelming, I don't even want to comment further. I had tears running down my cheeks. Good for you. 👍👍👍 🥲
Thank you so much!
What a joy to watch.
Awesome! What a unique experience! Enjoy every moment.
thank you for sharing This