My paternal grandfather, Edward Dopp, descended from a family that apparently migrated during the eighteenth century from the Palatine region of Germany to upstate New York (still being researched). They settled in Montgomery County, with our specific ancestors locating in and near the tiny hamlet of Rural Grove, NY. Edward descended from a long line of farmers, but worked at other jobs as well during his lifetime. His wife, Zina Hyney, worked for many years as a private nurse and often boarded with the patients she tended. They had 3 sons who all left their rural locale for a more urban life. Edward died long before I was born. My father was a man who didn’t show or verbalize much emotion, but his deep affection was obvious whenever he spoke of his father. My father highly prized his father’s copperlined antique smoking cabinet, the only physical link he retained to him. It connects me to both of them. 

– Joan Smrtic

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more