Yeah, genalogic research can certainly turn up some interesting things. I ran extensive searches a few years ago and ended up pissing off most of my extended family. See the guy who first came over from Germany was named Joseph XXXXX. This is how he was recorded when he hit Ellis Island in the mid 19th Century. He was known as Reb Joseph before he left Regensburg, Germany. One of my relatives asked if the "Reb" meant that he was on the Confederate side of things in the Civil War and I had to break the news to them that "Reb" meant that he was a Rabbi! Seems at that time it was politically more expedient, potentially more profitable and easier to get through the immigration process if one declared to be anything but a Jew, so the guy declared to be a Catholic but I found out that they practiced Judaism at home, appearing Catholic in public well into the 20th Century. Jews didn't get on well in Western Kansas in the 1860s, you see and were not really accepted by the already strong German Catholic community there.
My findings upset some of the relatives to the extreme when they found out that they were all really closet Jews! A couple of them still won't speak to me and deny the validity of my findings. Letters from surviving relatives in Germany however have since confirmed my earlier research.
I simply reply, "Just the facts, Ma'am!"
Sally.
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