Here’s a selection of answers to the ice-breaker question attendees were asked.
My 9X great grandfather’s hand drawn family tree from 1661. He wanted the villages back that his family had lost during the 30-year war. Therefore, he was trying to prove with this family tree to the duke of WĂĽrttemberg that he was the only living family member. …
The brother of my grandfather served in WW II. During the German invasion in Poland, he had a boy with a local woman, no-one in the family knew about. He gave his Polish son the same first name as his Austrian son – I suppose in order not to mess up! …
I discovered that a neighbor, 4 doors down, happened to be my 4th cousin. What’s more, he gave me original studio photos of both our 2x great-grandmothers together with all of their siblings, AND of my 2x great-grandparents and their children. Treasures! …
Discovering that a descendant of my great grandaunt was a German POW held at Fort Custer, where I now volunteer. She was one of seven siblings and the only one who did not emigrate to the United States. I also connected with her great-grandson, who assisted with research and shared family photographs. …
That there was truth to our family story about our ancestor having hopped on a ship because he thought he’d killed a man in a drunken bar fight. …
1898 Photo of Great-Great-Grandfather in Utica Police Uniform. His uniform buttons were to be passed down to descendants, and were lost, but they are in the photo! …
Found out my ancestor was the first German woman to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! …
Discovering original patent deeds for ancestors of both of my parents (Bauer and Burkhard) on the same trip to Lancaster County PA in the same week in 2013. Both deeds are almost 300 years old. …
My mom’s father was a Federal Prohibition Agent in Cleveland, Ohio!
Finding a picture of the ax used to behead my gggg-grandfather in 1814 …
My gg-aunt hired Abraham Lincoln’s law firm to settle a probate dispute. …
Finding my biological grandmother’s family and visiting all.  I found her by DNA matches. …
Learning about my second cousin maternal – a musician like me, being blind …
Finding a 1930’s dissertation at a German University that transcribed all the permission to emigrate documents from my ancestors’ home in south-eastern Bavaria. …