Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

Adventures in Israel—Walter and Joanne
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Two of the Ruby offspring went back to Israel for significant periods.

Demise of the cultured Lewi family
  • 1902 - 1942

Five siblings who stayed true to German ideals until the bitter end

Eilertsens by the lake
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Ed was the rector at Saint Martin's By the Lake in Minnetonka Beach, Minn. The family was raised in towns around the lake region west of Minneapolis, including in the church rectory

Janis Brenner—a Ratner in motion
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An innovator in modern dance and choreography since breaking in with the Murray Lewis Dance Company in the 1980s. The Ratners moved geographically. Janis moves artistically.

Love conquers all as Gerhard marries Ilse
  • 1931 - 1939

Two young Berliners make a modern marriage—with lasting consequences

Stan at Brant Lake
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Stan summered at a Jewish summer camp in the Adirondacks.

The family secret behind grandfather's desk calendar
  • July 22 1939 -

A surprising artifact discovered after a parent's death leads to a series of discoveries and a new pastime in genealogy

The Klein family in the 1940s
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Leon Klein continued to work for American Spirits as its upstate New York sales representative

The Ringels in Berlin—time of prosperity
  • 1881 - 1931

From 1880s to the 1930s, the Ringel family prospered in the garment trade in the German capital. Herman made men's outerwear.

The Rubys in Israel—1961 sabbatical
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Our family’s amazing year of discovery and connection

When Ed Eilertsen "crossed the bridge"
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In a dramatic moment while crossing the Mississippi River, he broke with his parents' austere Lutheranism for a more ecumenical approach

Ze'ev and Penina Sharon of Kibbutz Afeq
  • 1935 - 2009

A pioneer to Palestine in 1936, Ze’ev married Penina and they did their part to build the state of Israel as founders of Kibbutz Afek.