Recently, I have begun to seriously work on building my complete family tree. I fully expect this process to take many years, especially if I want to verify the authenticity of each branch. I’ve found this process to be extremely spiritual. There is something that makes me feel less small and unimportant when I think about all the people who had to meet, fall in love, and make babies for me to exist. It has become an essential piece to my mornings. Meditating on my ancestral history is a beautiful experience. Taking a moment to say the names of my First, Second, Third, and Fourth Great Grandparents, and learn about their lives through bits and pieces of historical documentation that I come across. Spending a lot of time with my Grandpa Melvin Walter, who I was close to, but too young when he passed. Coming across his World War II Registration Card with his hand writing from 1942. An entire blog post is coming soon about him. Exploring my family history has also made me feel so lucky because I am alive at a time where all of this information is available to me through a few clicks on the internet. 

The family members who I am researching could have never imagined a time where their Third or Fourth Great Grandson could read about their life in the 1760s or mid 1800s. To them, life was very simple, yet I can’t help but wonder if they felt the same complex emotions that I do. Did they have anxiety? 

My great grandfather, Fred, migrated to the United States in 1874 from Pomerania, Germany when he was 26 years old. Fred Albert Baumgard traveled over four thousand miles with no guarantee that where he was headed would work out for him. Fred was driven out of Germany after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. This war was a result of Austria attempting to take over land that belonged to Prussia. At the time, the village that my Third Great Grandfather Fred lived in comprised only of a few hundred people. They were pig farmers and grain farmers. This war was the last straw for the Baumgard family and many of their fellow villagers. They had been feeling the mounting pressure of losing their land for the last decade but this war made it all feel like an extremely real possibility, so they began to make plans to move to the United States. Back in this time, it was likely that most German-Prussian villagers would end up in the upper Midwest - specifically Blue Earth County, Minnesota, and that’s exactly where my Second Great Grandfather Fred settled and started a farm - near Vernon Center Township, Minnesota. It’s unclear if Fred migrated on his own or with his parents or siblings, but It would be here, in rural Southern Minnesota that he would meet the love of his life, Amelia Wilhemina Aver Schied. Amelia, like Fred, migrated to the United States in the early to mid 1880s. Amelia came to Minnesota in her early to mid 20s, and came here with her family. My Second Great Grandmother lived in a region of Prussian controlled territory that would be considered modern day Poland. Together Fred and Amelia would have seven kids: Hattie, Charles, Anna, Henry, Emma, Otto, and Elda. Fred and Amelia were married for forty-two years, only Fred’s death in 1931 at the age of 83 separating them. Amelia went on to live with her daughter Anna, and her husband Albert until her passing in 1948, also at the age of 83. 

So to answer my question from earlier, did my ancestors have anxiety? Did they feel strongly too? I think that answer is yes, I think my Second Great Grandfather Fred was apprehensive when he came to the U.S. from Germany one hundred and fifty-two years ago on a ship, but I also think his heart was full of wonder at all of the possibilities that awaited him. He took a huge risk and it paid off. Fred deciding to migrate to that small township in rural southern Minnesota is the reason I’m sitting here today. I am so thankful for Amelia and her parents deciding to escape Prussia and take the same risks as Fred. 

Fred, Amelia, those who came after, and before, are the reason I’m able to enjoy these wonderful days with my wife and my daughter.