Notizen zu dieser Person
Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 13:18:38 +0100
Subject: Re: FW: Sunday-greetings
Dear Janet and Rod,
thank you very much for your very interesting email about the
relationship between our families. It is funny that it seems to be a
double one, in a sense. I was especially charmed by the foto of Maynard.
He is one of the few American relatives we know (or knew) quite well. I
remember very well his first visit, it must have been in 1964 or 1965. I
was still in kindergarten while my brother Ralf was in his first year in
school. Of course is was very exciting for us to have an 'uncle' from
America over (in fact Maynard is a full cousin of my mother as you
probably know). At that time I was absolutely convinced that all
Americans are black so I was quite surprised to see a white man that
resembled very much fotos I had seen from my grandfather (who died
already in 1948). Maynard was a very nice man, we kids really loved him.
He won my heart with a white plush dog with a red collar he brought for
me. I also liked very much the magic tricks he showed us. We had a great
time together! He came for another visit in August 1980, already as a
rather old man, for the silver wedding of my parents. I remember him
bringing only very light clothes as suitable for San Diego in summer. We
had to get for him the warmest jumper of my father to stand the German
summer temperatures. One year later Ralf and I went to the US for
holidays and had a wonderful time there. We first stayed a week with the
Farr's in there home in Washington State close to the Canadian border
(Marlis Farr is a doughter of Olga Kropf who was married to Fred Kropf
(I think)). From there we made a great trip via a number of National
Parks to San Diego where we stayed with Maynard for a couple of days.
In 1986 I stayed in the US for 6 months. In the course of my PhD study
in biology I worked in a laboratory of the California Institute of
Technology. During my stay I saw Olga Kropf and Marlis Farr. Maynard was
already very ill and was staying in a nursery home. He died shortly
after I had traced down where he was staying. Also Olga who was already
high in her nineties died while I was in the US. Since then we have
heard from any of the US relatives only very sporadically.
Probably all this is not really of interest for you since you are of
course interested in the history of your family. My mother (Martha, born
1920) could tell a lot of the family of her father Heinrich who was a
brother to Wilhelm Rahe and Sophie Rahe-Kropf. I know only the
following: The parents of Wilhelm, Heinrich, Sophie, Luise (and may be
more) were working for a landowner on a large estate. They were working
in 'Heuer' which means that they had to work for the landowner on his
land and had a small amount of land which they could farm for their own.
Probably, they also possessed one or two cows, a pig and a couple of
chicken for supply with milk, eggs and meat. With all the children
around they were rather poor. Earlier an uncle of the kids had emigrated
to the US and he offered to help the kids to start a new life there as
well. This opportunity was highly welcome for the Rahe parents and they
decided to send their older children Wilhelm, Heinrich and Luise to
America to enable them a better life. However, shortly before the
journey was going to take place my grandfather Heinrich refused to go.
Instead his younger sister, aged only 13 years old, was sent together
with her older siblings. In fact, I cannot really understand how parents
can send such a young child to country absolutely unknown to them. Their
financial problems must have been really large. Anyhow, apparently all
the children somehow made their living and founded a large Americian
Rahe branch!
Maybe it is also nice for you to get to know something about myself. I
was born in 1959 in the small German town of Quakenbrueck where my
father worked for a food company. After finishing highschool I went to
university in Bielefeld where I became a biologist. My PhD I also got in
Bielefeld and then I moved to Groningen, The Netherlands, where my
boyfriend had accepted a position at the university. I found a post-doc
position at the Medical Faculty. Currently I am an assistant professor
with a permanent position. My research focusses on the development of
improved influenza vaccines. My former boyfriend and now husband Franjo
is a professor in Theoretical Biology. Unfortunately, we don't have
children (nor does my brother). Thus our little branch of the family
ends with us.
My mother had one sister (Hedwig) and one brother (Willi). With her
husband Heinz Hedwig had one son (Dieter). Dieter married Ingrid and
they together had two children, a daughter (Dagmar) and a son (Kai).
Dagmar is in her early thirties and isn't married. Kai is married but
does not have children so far.
Well, that's about what I can tell you about the family. Everything I
wrote is what I remember from what my mother told me years ago. Ralf
might have more accurate information. He talked to my mother about the
family history very recently and also took the genealogy Maynard brougth
with him in 1980. I hoped to see him on Christmas but unfortunately tons
of snow prevented the meeting. I will send him a copy of this email such
that he can correct if I was mistaken here and there.
Now I wish both of you a very happy 2002!
Anke
Roderick
Schwald
