My name is <George Schmidt> and I am the Site manager of this site.

I have always been led to believe that finding my ancestors was not possible because of the area in which they came from.  My grandfather, Herman Schmidt came into Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada prior to World War I from Kiev, Ukraine.  This is an area that was first destroyed by the German army in its invasion of Russia in World War II.  What little was left was destroyed by the Russians when they drove the Germans out.

However, some records do exist.   I  found the Naturalization Records for my Grandfather Herman Schmidt.  The papers show that he was born in Shitomir Parish, Ukraine.  That area now shows on maps and current documents as Zhytomyr.  It is located west of Kiev, and is a historic city first mentioned in 1240.  During World War II, it became the Ukrainian headquarters for Heinrich Himmler.  It had a brutal and violent history during the war, and tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered.  One of Himmler's goals was to "eliminate the Jews" and end German colonization of the East.  This transformed the landscape and devastated the population to an extent that was not experienced in other parts of Nazi-occupied Europe, other than Poland. (Information contained from Answers.com)

I am quite sure that I have found the correct Ludwig Schmidt,my Great Grandfather,  born in 1862 in Russia.  My Great Grandmother was Helene Mueller.  Helen Mueller was born in 1859 in Russia.  Ludwig and Helene were married in 1882.  I recently verified that the data for Helene and her family are now correct.   Both have connections to Shitomir, and Bessarabia.

I am fairly confident that I have found my Paternal Great Grandmother, Karolyn Ziefle, thanks to internet contacts with family members in Germany and  Finland.  I have since traced the Ziefle family back into the 1500's.

 I discovered records for my Maternal Grandfather Reinhold Rich, born in 1883 in Eigenheim, Bessarabia.  I believe that  my Great Grandfather was Johannes Reich, born in 1859 in Russia.  I am still missing the records that definitely tie Reinhold to the particular Johannes--son of Johann born in 1827 in Russia.

I have recently added the family information for Sandra Pearson, Virginia DeWitz (wife of Uncle William Schmidt) and Nellie Novak (wife of Uncle Robert Schmidt).  The research on these familes has turned up some Famous People and go back many years.  Some Examples:  Edward King of Scots, Sir Malcolm Wallace and William "Braveheart" Wallace, Stonewall Jackson and Annie Oakley (Phoebe Ann Mosely) and her husband Frank Baker--both famous for their marksmanship .  I have also been searching for reported connections to John Dillinger.  The James Withers (Wyther) Family includes may American Pioneers including a cousin of George Washington, a Governor, Major Plantation Owners, Revolutionary War Veterans and Civil War Veterans--including a Confederate General.

 These are the discoveries that keep me digging into the family history.

 Any help inmy search for other family members will be much appreciated, particularly for Reinhold Reich and Johannes Reich and Heinrich Tobert (or Taubert) branches,

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Notre arbre généalogique est affiché en ligne sur ce site ! Il y a 15941 noms dans notre site familial. L'événement le plus ancien est la naissance de Gwrwst Ledlwm (422). L'événement le plus récent est le décès de Albert Gottlieb Zimmer (25 avr 2012).
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