SteffieH on Family Tree Circles

Well, I was wrong yet again. That's what happens when you learn facts as a child. However, my aunt recently explained that my great grandfather actually died before my grandmother was born, and actually when my great grandmother gave birth, my grandmother's aunt made a deal with my great grandmother to take my grandmother because she was a sickly baby and my aunt Something Warns (don't know which aunt) was the one who could help my grandmother thrive. It's hard to imagine why my grandmother was sickly except my grandmother must have been too big a baby for my great grandmother who was said to be tiny, around 5'0''. My grandmother, on the other hand, grew up to be 5'8'' tall. Anyway, I think my great grandmother, Sina, wanted her baby to have a better life than the one she could provide.

It just aggravates me when people disinherit my family from our history. However, I will analyze carefully. This whole thing with my great grandfather isn't solved and I just had an epiphany. Which I will keep to myself until I have more information (and the birth certificate). Connecting all the dots carefully, especially since its like I'm extracting things from history with tweezers (even a hair width of information is gold).

Yes, I was always told Julius Warns was my great grandfather and I still believe he is. I won't go into the facts of say, how my grandmother ended up being with her German relatives (I don't really know). I won't go into the fact that she had her inheritance taken from her when she was 18 (no, not interested in it). I won't question how on earth Dresden is related to the Warns. In any case, I feel for my grandmother because, a. I knew her, and b. she had everything taken from her. Well, I perhaps don't even know the whole story. But, yeah, there you go. Not trying to make the Warns look bad in any way, just relating some truths. From what I know.

My ancestry from the U.S. is pretty simple, which is just awesome. In fact, I can trace my ancestry back to the 16 hundreds. Wales and surprisingly England of course (though considering I have very little English, I shouldn't be able to trace it that far). No, despite the family myths, no Cherokee (according to my DNA test). Would love a little Cherokee, since they were such a wise tribe. But due to the equality we have here, which isn't perfect (at all), but more advanced than the rest of the world; I am able to explore my ancestry-no brick walls.

I truly don't know what to think. The German grandfather my grandmother was close to (she said she was his pet), apparently died twenty years prior to her birth. And her father died before she was born? That's according to researchers. Yet on trees on dna websites it clearly states that Julius Warns Jr. was her father. On a Schwenke post they name her as his daughter...Am I missing something?

It's nice to see the actual tombstones of both great great grandfather Julius and great great grandma Lucy. It's not quite a photo, but that will do for a while. You can find it on billiongraves.com.

I thought it'd be best not to speculate, though this topic really does lend itself to speculation. I'll just list facts that are sold (ish). Great great granddaughter of Julius Warns and Lucy Barry Bell Schwenke. Daughter of Peleise See. Or at least that's how it officially goes. What I do know is that Julius Warns came from Eppendorf, Germany. I did find a picture yesterday of "Julius Warns" from Hamburg, Germany on a genealogy site connected to myheritage.com, though I know it isn't him because this Julius died around 1920ish. I do think we're related to that specific Julius Warns, because Warns is such an uncommon German name. If a German were to ask you what your German name is, "Warns" will get you puzzled looks. "Warns" is not a typical German name. Anyway, my great grandfather was his son, also named Julius Warns. His daughter, my grandmother Cecilia, was left fatherless after he contracted influenza and died. There is a picture of him somewhere, and I must find it because it would be a travesty if he was forgotten! According to my mother, he looked like Liam Neeson. Either way, it's lovely to see a picture of my great great aunt Lucy. My mother's middle name is Lucy, and my grandmother most likely named my mother after her aunt, since she was risen with her aunts (very long story).

As for me, my mother married an American with some German-German American (the biggest European ethnic group in the United States), so that's why I am in the U.S. It's fascinating that all the Germans from Samoa spread all over the world. My grandmother left Samoa when she was four and lived everywhere from New Zealand to the United States.