Just The Facts Ma'am

I'll be at my parents for a few days over this next week for Passover so I'll be taking some notes and looking through old documents to see what I can find.  For now though, it seems like a good time to fill you in on the basics, the stuff I've always known about my family.

My mother's side, the Buchanan side, were refugees from Nazi Germany.  My grandfather, Leo, grew up in Frankfurt and was one of nine children.  His grandfather had come to Germany from Russia.  They were desperately poor.  Both of his parents and one of his sister's, my great aunt Berta, were killed during the Holocaust.  My grandfather and seven of his siblings were lucky enough to get out.  He went to England and fought in the British Army before coming to Brooklyn.  Some of his sister's and one of his brothers, Henry, came to New York too, but by the time I was born only Henry was still living in New York.  My grandfather outlived all but one of his siblings and now, of the nine children, only my Aunt Eva, who I have never met, is still living in California.

My great grandparents, Hanna and Alfred Bendit, and my grandmother, Ruth, lived in Berlin.  My great grandfather worked for a Jewish organization and my great grandmother was a stay at home mom.  My grandmother was an only child.  They lived a more middle class existence.  They escaped to America on the last refugee boat that got out of Nazi Germany and came to Brooklyn when my grandmother was 13.  They joined family who had come here around the same time; my great grandmother's mother, her three sisters and their children.  Most of my grandmother's cousin stayed in the New York area so I've met most of them.  I also have very vague knowledge of meeting two of my great-great aunts, or tante's as we call them using their native German, but they all passed away long before my great-grandmother and they weren't close so I have no real memories of my tantes.

I know story after story about my mother's side of the family, that I'm planning to tell here, detailing where they came from and how they got here.  Off the top of my head can name family from six generations back.

My father's side, the Lander side, is the mystery.  Both of my grandparents on that side were first generation American.  My father is named George, for his paternal grandmother, and my uncle was named Lewis, for their maternal grandfather.  If my dad was ever told the names of his grandmothers, he had long since forgotten them by the time I started this project.  My grandfather, Harry, had three sisters.  He passed away long before I was born as did his sister Leah, but I knew his two other sisters, my great aunts.  I knew that they all grew up in Detroit, that their mother died young and that their father, unable to take care of four children during the depression, had to put the children in an orphanage for a time.

My grandmother, Belle, had a few brothers I knew, but I couldn't remember how many and only vaguely had an idea of their names.  I knew she had two sisters; one who was much older than she who died during the great flu epidemic and another, also older named Rae who lived with my dad's family while he was growing up.  Rae was also long dead by the time I was born.  I knew that my grandmother's father was from Russia and that my grandmother had lived in New York her whole life between Manhattan's Lower East Side, Brooklyn's Williamsburg and finally Midwood, the neighborhood in Brooklyn where my dad grew up.

I don't have many stories about my father's side of the family, but I'm hoping that through this project I can find some.

So, there it is, all the facts I have.  Now, you're all caught up too.

Lucky Little Girl

I love history. I've always loved history. Maybe it's because of my general inquisitive nature or maybe it's because my father is a history buff. Maybe, though, my love of history comes from all of the interesting stories I heard about my own family growing up.
I had five grandparents growing up, a grandmother on my father's side and, on my mother's side, a full set of grandparents and a full set of great-grandparents. Even as a small child, I knew how lucky that made me. Sadly, only my maternal grandmother, Ruth, is still living. All five of my grandparents, though all crazy in their own ways, loved my brother, cousin's and I fiercely and unconditionally.

In many ways my mother's side of the family, the Buchanan side, is a study in modern Jewish history. Are you wondering how a Jewish family came to have the surname Buchanan? Well of course, there's a story there too and I promise you we'll get to it in due time.

As for my father's side of the family, the Lander side, well... err... I know almost nothing. My parental grandfather, Harry, died long before I was born, when my father was 13 and my father never knew any of his grandparents, save one grandfather who died when he was four and so, there were just less people to ask. My paternal grandmother, Belle, who was wonderful and warm and kind, passed away in 1996. I wish I'd thought to ask her more questions before then.

A few weeks ago I watched the series Faces of America on PBS and found it inspiring. The show followed some very well known Americans as Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. helped to trace their family histories. In some cases he was able to go back 1200 years! It was fascinating viewing and reignited the spark in me to study my own family’s history.

I don't expect to be able to trace my own family's history back very far. As with so many minority groups, it's difficult to trace Jewish roots. The Jewish people were so often expelled from countries, so often the victims of persecution and violence and so often made to live on the fringes, always being considered an "other" that it's difficult to find information. Families moved or were forced out of places; names were changed; records weren't kept. So there will be no 23rd great-grandfather for me and the chances of finding out I'm related to some great emperor of yesteryear are highly unlikely, still I think this project is well worth it.

So that's what this blog, Designer Genes, is all about. It's about my family, both the Lander side and the Buchanan side. This blog is intended to document whatever I find out about the Lander side of my family, but also as a place to write down all the stories from the Buchanan side. They're important stories and they deserve a place to live.

My maternal great-great-great Grandmother Dora Schubert

Germany, year uknown