In the past week I have purchased what is essentially a "fill-in-the" Blank Book called The Story of a Lifetime. It offers a way to document your life, prompting you with questions and allowing you to answer in the blanks. When you are finished filling everything out you have a sort of autobiography (or at least all the basic facts to create a readable autobiography). It would be great if everyone did one of these.
What I am going to do is fill out the blanks in this blog first before committing to paper, then will handwrite my comments into the book.
The first blank is 13a which essentially requests information about how my family moved from one country to this one. That is a story in itself.
I will give a brief answer now and will edit it later.
My father's family emigrated from Switzerland, arrived in New York City and were processed through Ellis Island. It is unclear why they chose to come to the United States: it was not part of some political change. The Epiney's and the Caloz's came together and there is sort of a triangle relationship that existed in Switzerland and continued when they came to the USA. I have documentation about this.
My mother's family, the Schmick's and the Schwent's, were Volga Germans. They moved to the state of Washington but, like the Epiney's and Caloz's, they came through Ellis Island (in 1898). I don't know how they came to a Pacific coast state, however as they were wheat farmers it made sense they travel cross-country to settle in Eastern Washington. The reason to move was simple: The Czar didn't want them in Russia anymore. The Volga Germans were farmers from Germany who were invited to raise wheat and other crops in Russia by Catherine the Great in the 1700s. They came and they prospered. Then, in the late 1800's the Czar asked them to leave.
What I am going to do is fill out the blanks in this blog first before committing to paper, then will handwrite my comments into the book.
The first blank is 13a which essentially requests information about how my family moved from one country to this one. That is a story in itself.
I will give a brief answer now and will edit it later.
My father's family emigrated from Switzerland, arrived in New York City and were processed through Ellis Island. It is unclear why they chose to come to the United States: it was not part of some political change. The Epiney's and the Caloz's came together and there is sort of a triangle relationship that existed in Switzerland and continued when they came to the USA. I have documentation about this.
My mother's family, the Schmick's and the Schwent's, were Volga Germans. They moved to the state of Washington but, like the Epiney's and Caloz's, they came through Ellis Island (in 1898). I don't know how they came to a Pacific coast state, however as they were wheat farmers it made sense they travel cross-country to settle in Eastern Washington. The reason to move was simple: The Czar didn't want them in Russia anymore. The Volga Germans were farmers from Germany who were invited to raise wheat and other crops in Russia by Catherine the Great in the 1700s. They came and they prospered. Then, in the late 1800's the Czar asked them to leave.
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