Most people have a natural curiosity about their ancestry. All of us have a desire to know who we are, where we came from, and to know that our family made a positive contribution in the land where we now live. I started doing genealogy research on my family history in 1995. Since then, I have acquired a significant amount of information. The purpose of this website is to strengthen family ties, to celebrate similarities, to reflect on the history that determined our existence, and to provide a place where my family can explore all the interesting things I have discovered. We came from a long line of honest, decent, hard-working individuals who had strong faith in God and this is something to appreciate.
This website is dedicated to the memory of my parents: Elo and Louise (Petru) Berger
Family members born in the last few years may not appear on the Family Tree because I have not yet received their names and birth dates. To include missing individuals or make any corrections, please print this pdf form, fill it in, and return to me by email: Family Group Sheet
Thank you for visiting my website and I hope you return often. Please let me know if you have any documents or photos that you would like to contribute (a digital copy is fine). I will continue to add additional information as I find it. Friend me on Facebook.
Much thanks to my researchers and translators:
In the Czech Republic: Dr. Miroslav Koudelka
In Germany: Dr. Sylvia Moehle and Andrae Hofer
Special thanks to Ginny Perryman who generously shared her early research on the Petru Family with me before computer programs were even available. She sent me two, four by two foot sheets of paper containing a large amount of data. I very much appreciate your early work, Ginny.
Much thanks to those of you who have contributed photos and documents. It is very much appreciated.
Dear Ancestor:
Your tombstone stands among the rest
Neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marble stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I exist
You died before I was born
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Not entirely all our own
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
Written by: Walter Butler Palmer (1868-1932)