Stories They Never Told Us

Most American families were immigrants, leaving behind their ancestral homes in search of a better life somewhere else. What did a better life mean? Perhaps more economic opportunities or upward mobility. Maybe your ancestors left their homes to escape poverty, warfare, pogroms, or genocide. What did they do when they arrived in their new home? How did they integrate into a new society, learn a new language, adapt to cultural and religious changes? This book explores what happened to four families who left Europe between the 1890s and the 1920s and settled in the United States. They left relatives behind who suffered through two world wars, countless border changes, and genocide. Maintaining familial ties with those who remained in Europe but also with those who scattered throughout the world pose challenges for their descendants - how do we find our ancestral families in Europe, how do we find their descendants who left? This book tackles that challenge and more.