My family has moved around a lot. I added it all up a few years ago and I have moved over 35 times in my life, over 20 of those before the age of 8. To say I don’t hang on to a lot would be an understatement, but one thing that has never lost its value over the years and generations are our photos. We treasure the memories through these, even though my grandmother absolutely hated having her own photo taken! They help remind us of not only events, but people who are important to us and our story. When my mom passed away 15 years ago, the biggest concern for all 3 of her children was how to divide up the photos. Whenever I feel nostalgic or want to remember something from the past, I pull out the albums and remember the stories behind the pictures. The pictures will always be there even when the people in them have left us. Along with those pictures come the stories behind them. One of these stories is the following: My great grandparents immigrated here from Holland. As the story goes, they had 13 children. Six of them were born in Holland, one on the boat on the way here, and six here in the states. My grandfather was one of the youngest six. Because of this, I know that anyone with our family’s last name residing in the U.S. is somehow related to me. We are the only part of that particular family to leave Holland. 
 

– Joy Anderson

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