150 Years Later, I Went Back

What I found when I returned to my family's Kansas roots

Some places just feel like home. For me, Ellis County, Kansas, has always been one of them.

This summer, I spent several weeks in Hays writing, exploring and celebrating the 150th anniversary of my Volga German ancestors' arrival in Kansas. Volga Germans left Germany and settled along Russia's Volga River beginning in the 1760s, after Catherine the Great invited them to settle there. Over generations, they built communities, farmed the land and held onto their German language, traditions and faith.

By the 1870s, life was changing. Freedoms and privileges they had been promised were disappearing, and growing pressure to assimilate threatened their way of life. Many made the difficult decision to leave Russia and start over in America.

My father's family was among them. In 1876, they arrived on the wide-open plains of Kansas, hoping for the freedom to worship, speak and build a life of their own. They started over, determined to succeed.

My family's story is still very much alive. My great-great-grandfather purchased a homestead and built the first grist mill in Ellis County. After floods destroyed the mill, he used some of its limestone blocks to build a house on the farm. This is the house where my father was born and raised. History is written in every beam, board and stone.

Four of the millstones still survive today and are at the heart of Operation Mill Stones, my effort to preserve them and share their story. But those old stones have quite a story of their own.

When an Old Photograph Finds Family

I also returned to Hays for another very special reason. I was honored to be a featured speaker at the 56th Annual American Historical Society of Germans from Russia International Convention, where I presented “Creative Roots: Carrying Forward Volga German Art, Music and Writing,” a True Nature Heritage Project.

I shared my family's history through writing, art, music, photographs and stories. One of my favorite moments was getting everyone singing along to “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” In a room full of people reconnecting with their roots, the song seemed just about perfect.

Then something happened that I never expected.

After my presentation, a man came up to me holding the same family photograph I had just shared with the audience. We started comparing family histories and discovered that we share the same great-grandfather. There we were, generations later, brought together by an old family photograph.

And he wasn't my only surprise. By the time I left Kansas, I had met at least 10 cousins I didn't even know I had, and somehow my long-lost cousin and his friend had adopted me along the way!

The three-day convention was filled with German food, music, traditions, presentations and lots of good conversation. One of my cousins came from Missouri with her daughter and granddaughter to join me. I caught up with old friends from Michigan and Arizona, made new ones and enjoyed being together.

A Little Polka, German Beer and Cherry Pie

Of course, we couldn't spend the whole trip talking about family history. There was music, laughter, some great German beer and I even learned how to polka! My new cousin and his friend took me to Meridy's in nearby Russell, where I discovered the best cool cucumber salad and a slice of homemade cherry pie that I swear I can still taste.

Somewhere along the way, 150 years didn't seem quite so long ago. That's what I love about family history. It isn't just names, dates and old photographs. It's the stories we tell, the places our families lived, the things they left behind and the people we discover along the way.

I came home with new cousins, new friends and plenty of stories to tell. Some places become part of who we are. For me, Kansas will forever be one of them.

I can't wait to go back.