400 Years of Lost Family History
It started with an old letter in the attic.
Sarah grew up without a real connection to her dad’s side of the family. She knew her grandfather was a preacher and her father had grown up in a Christian environment with Mennonite or Amish roots. Aunt Joan, the family historian, died in 2020, leaving Sarah to think that her connection to her family’s past had died, too. Thanks to a fit of pandemic boredom, Sarah found a letter in a dusty box while she was cleaning the attic. It was 100+ years old and had some tantalizing details.
"She was the last connection I had to any kind of history on my father’s side…. Her death made me yearn for the family history I never knew I was going to get."
Simon, the one who went to college, which was a big thing in the early 1800s
Came over to this country with Grandpa Bollinger
Jakob, Grandpa Bollinger, who came to this country with Konrad. Grandpa came over as a very young boy. It says that he wandered away; ausgewandert (Translated: emigrated)
Heinrich, killed in the Civil War. He was killed at Gettysburg, in the battle of Little Round Top. This is a romantic story which I will tell you sometime again.
The mysterious letter with references to forgotten family stories:
Taking on the case:
Sarah needed to know more, but all of her efforts on popular genealogy sites were fruitless, full of confusing dead ends and false leads. She needed a specialist, somebody that goes beyond the traditional genealogist.
Sarah kept the letter a secret from her family for the moment. She remembered that a friend had worked with Family History Intelligence, a specialized genealogy firm founded by Lisa Maddox, a former CIA analyst. She took a leap of faith and sent the only copy of the precious letter.
Sarah’s personalized website was completed with 5 generations worth of personal information! There were crests, births, baptisms, census information, and more to document her family’s history. She was overjoyed!
Sarah invited her extended family to a virtual meeting. After she unveiled the website compiled by FHI, her cousins began sharing new stories and insights. Sarah’s family became closer and formed new bonds based on the past. It was a sweet moment to reconnect after Aunt Joan’s recent passing.
The title of family historian had been passed on to Sarah.
FHI created this personalized family history website to capture all the stories and data.
The big reveal:
