GenTraveling to Open Air Museums

Hello GenTravelers!

Isn’t it thrilling to go GenTraveling?!?  To visit your ancestral lands?  Yes, it is the real deal thrill! But some travelers can be discouraged because their ancestor’s former village is now a fast-pace urban area where is it nearly impossible to imagine what it may have been like when their ancestors lived there.

Thank goodness for museums that help bridge that imagination gap! I recently read of the Rhenisch Open Air Museum in Kommern, Germany which includes four villages that help family historians, and others, get a sense of what life used to be like. Their website (link HERE) mentions they have over 65 historical buildings!

 

And Kommern isn’t the only city to offer this type of essential GenTraveling experience.  Apparently there are many throughout Europe. You might want to read travel expert, Rick Steve’s article, “Time Traveling at Europe’s Open-Air Museums“.

So, I know you all are planning your next GenTraveling trip, right?  In addition to court houses, libraries and archives, be sure to see if any museums are in the area and add a visit there to your itinerary!

Best wishes for successful research, and be sure to let me know where you plan to GenTravel next!

 

GenTraveling – The land previously know as Prussia

Hello GenTravelers!

Many of you may have ancestry from the old European region of Prussia.  How is your research going?  Dan Billington wrote an article called “Postcards from Prussia” in the November 2011 Family Tree magazine.  He began his article by telling how, as a child, his aunt told him of her great-grandmother’s journey from old Prussia who apparently brought with her a samovar which is now a family heirloom.  Dan says that “from that day I was hooked on family history”.

The article does a good job of explaining the history  of Prussia and the genealogical challenges of researching migrant families from that area. It lists quite a few resources to check, so if you have Prussian ancestors, be sure read the full article.

Where was Prussia?

In 1832, Prussia covered an area from (what is now) the west of Berlin to north-west, and into the north-east of Poland.”

“Prussia was much fought over between 1870 and 1945….Place names…have often changed”

Dan ends the article by saying “You’ll need perseverance to research your Prussian ancestors but you will gain a wider understanding of the region’s culture and history.” How true that is of whatever location we’re researching! And GenTraveling can give us an even wider understanding!

So, are you planning your GenTraveling yet? Where do you plan to go? Be sure to share your GenTraveling Bucket list on our Bucket List Page.  GenTraveling: It’s the Real Deal Thrill!

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