Shaking the Family Tree

The internet for all its faults has brought great joy to my life. I reconnected with my oldest son. I reconnected with friends of the past. Complete strangers have sent me books just because I was looking for them accepting nothing in return. I have met and made friends with a few people who given our real world locations we would have never even been introduced. Now I cannot imagine my life without them.

My latest internet gift was so out of left field and unexpected that I am still somewhat stunned by its significance.

For several years now I have been working on the geneology of my family. My paternal side has been going nowhere for quite sometime. To my chagrin the Brueckner's and the Finn's with immediate connections to me have all passed away. Leaving no records behind to mark their passing. Someday I know I will find that first piece that leads to the discovery of a mother lode of information. Someday. But not today.

My luck has been much more rewarding on the maternal side.

I knew my maternal grandpa well but we never really discussed the Pankopf side of the family much. I have found information going back to Germany via Milwaukee though so I have made great progress. His mother's maiden name was Weinbrenner and there is an entire website dedicated to her family tree put together by various branches and I have been overwhelmed by the available information.

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Spelta. Nana and I were close and we spent many hours discussing family history. I have letters she exchanged with my grandfather. I have postcards she received over the years from both friends and family. Funeral cards, her nursing certificate, her grade school graduation book. For the most part that information has been limited to her generation.

Recently I received an email from someone asking if I was interested in any information related to Quinto Spelta. At first I assumed that the email must be from a relative. I know my grandmother's oldest brother Eligio had a son Bobby who had moved to Alaska and the email was from Anchorage. I knew it was not from Bobby because he had died many years ago in small plane crash. I was sure that it must be from one of his children or grandchildren.

I was not even close.

The person who contacted me has no connection with our family in anyway, shape or form.

She is someone who is also working on her family tree. A friend of hers passed on to her a bible she had bought at a thrift store. The friend assumed she might be interested because there was a lot of paperwork stuffed between the pages.

She went through the bible and discovered birth records, newspaper articles, funeral cards and other documents. All were linked to the family name of Spelta.

She did some research and discovered that I was interested in information about the Spelta name. So she sent me the email.

The information she has is more than I had ever expected to find. There is birth information related to my grandmother, her siblings and relations still living in Italy. We exchanged several more emails with the bottom line being that she is sending me the bible and all of its contents to me at no charge. She is just thrilled to find someone related to Quinto who wants the information.

Life is good.