My father grew up in a farm community near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he attended a one-room school house where his father was the teacher.  Later he moved to Elkton, Michigan and lived near the family farm.  My grandparents were descendants of German immigrants, pious, hard-working people - my grandmother was the telephone operator in town and my grandfather, a polio survivor who walked with a cane, never let his disability hold him back.  The family did not have much but these are my grandmother's sugar bowl and creamer and looking at the farm scene on them, I can't help but think of my father, uncles, and aunt growing up in this small community, very far from where they all ended up.  My life is very different from my grandparents, working in a big city, living with more means, practicing a different faith.  But I feel deeply tied to these roots and treasure these items more than almost anything else in my house.  My grandparents and Dad are gone now, but these items are forever a physical bond to them and the past.

– Shoshana Buchholz-Miller

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