Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

1968 Democratic convention
  • August 26 1968 - August 29 1968

It was a signature moment of the turbulent 1960s. Walter, 18, and Dan, 15, were there in Chicago, working as messengers for the Eugene McCarthy campaign.

Eilertsen roots in Farsund, Norway
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Farmers and seafarers from the south Norway coast

Grammy — everyone’s favorite grandmother
  • 1941 - 1981

She made each of her six grandchildren feel special

Lest we forget—family Holocaust testimony
  • 1941 - 1942

Remembering our Ringel and Wohlgemuth/Paechter family members who perished in the Shoah.

Lisbon to New York—with a detour to Havana
  • August 1940 - May 1941

The Ringel family crossed from Lisbon on the SS Guine—but their entry to the U.S. was anything but routine

Sidney Kessler and American Spirits
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Walter Ruby's boss in the liquor business became an influential figure in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

The early history of the Wohlgemuth family
  • March 11 1812 - July 25 1876

In 1812 in Preußisch Stargardt, an elderly Jew Moses and his sons Salomon and Herz took the surname Wohlgemuth in exchange for Prussian citizenship rights. Our family, descended from Herz Wohlgemuth, stayed in Stargardt for the next three generations

Wild goose chase—an accident in Jersey City
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A newspaper clipping placed Walter Ruby on the scene of an automobile wreck in Hudson County, N.J. Not every lead pans out.