We have recently completed a fascinating in-depth study about immigration.  This is a great way to introduce or review various historical eras with kids, while tracing ancestry.  History becomes more meaningful when it becomes their story.

     The furthest back I can trace my ancestry is through my mom's maiden name, which is French. Our French ancestors were Huguenots from Brittany. Apparently they were kin to some French Seigneurs and we had a coat of arms. After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, they fled to Holland due to religious persecution.  This was brought to life when I read GA Henty's St. Bartholomew's Eve: A Story of the Huguenot Wars to my kids last winter. I told the kids to imagine our ancestors' flight during this time.  My kids always enjoy GA Henty books and it was neat that this time we were reading about family history.  Descendants of this particular ancestor immigrated to America from Holland in 1721, settling in Pennsylvania. Aboard ship, the family name, which was French, was Americanized, or spelled phonetically. Were they terrorized during the French and  Indian War?  

   My mom had other ancestors who immigrated to America from Wurtemberg, Germany in 1764.  It's amazing the details that were located on these ancestors.They arrived on the ship, Hero, which had 500 passengers, landing in Philadelphia. Did they meet Benjamin Franklin?  Did they go to his print shop?

    Another of mom's ancestors arrived in America in 1864, the groom from Switzerland and the bride from Germany. I have a copy of their marriage certificate in German.  I also have a copy of the citizenship papers of the groom, from 1873.  I don't think it was these ancestors, but another great aunt that my mom remembers as only speaking German.  She was called Dutch. I'm not sure if she was Pennsylvania Dutch or from Germany.  

     While we were visiting Civil War Battlefields around Fredericksburg, one of the park rangers asked where we were from. When we told him Texas, he asked if our ancestors fought in the Confederacy in Virginia.  Some Texans did. Some even fought in Williamsburg. But our ancestors on my mom's side were still in Pennsylvania and fought for the Union. When I was 10, I got to visit the graves of a lot of my ancestors in the Alleghany Mountains and saw the flags and markers on the graves, identifying the wars they fought in.  Did any ancestors fight with Generals Washington and Lafayette in the American Revolution?  Did any fight with General Grant in the Civil War? 

     My dad's family was still in Germany. They immigrated to America after the Civil War.  When the Ellis Island immigration records became available on-line a few years ago, I could not search for my ancestors, because Ellis Island had no records before 1892.  Prior to this Castle Garden handled the reception of immigrants. I didn't realize this until studying immigration in the last few weeks. I found pages of my my maiden name at Castle Garden! This was exciting since the only people I know with my maiden name is in my immediate family.  I'm not able to find specific ancestors.  Perhaps I have a variation of spelling so this could become a treasure hunt!  I do know that the groom was born in Essen, Germany and the bride was born in Westphalia.

    Finding great historical fiction books that conincide with students' geneology is a great way to get them excited about history.  Searching for possible immigration records can be fun too.  Did you know there were other immigration stations other than New York? A few years ago we went to Galveston Island on vacation and took a tour of the tall ship Elissa. As part of the admission, we got to do the museum for the immigration station. We had fun searching through the records even though we knew we had no relatives who came through there. 

     Another fun way to get kids interested in ancestry and history is through hands-on and dance. A few years ago we went to Fredericksburg, Texas for Pioneer Day, commemorating the anniversary of their settlement. One of the activities was watching the German polka dancers.  They told us that they each had different costumes, representing the different areas of Germany. I was trying to remember which region of Germany I was from so I could ask if anyone wore that costume.  The highpoint was when we were invited to dance with them! (Sorry, Pam, no one took a picture of me dancing the German polka!)