Warsaw

The classic setup from “An American Tale” — two Polish families left Warsaw to escape Russian rule; Helen’s in 1886, Waddy’s in 1895. While I never knew my great-great-grandparents, I clearly connected to their ancestral roots when I sat down to watch my favorite animated classic over and over again as a young child. As depicted, Warsaw truly was under siege at several key points over the course of its history, and my ancestors likely had enough of the Russians attempting to take over their land, heritage, and culture.

By their early 20s, Waddy and Helen wed and began a family of 10 children, the eldest being my great-grandfather Adam. Of course, Adam went on to eventually connect with my great-grandmother Blanche to connect a couple of branches, but not before meeting his first wife and fathering 4 children before bringing my paternal grandfather into the world. Once again, records do not seem to indicate where one marriage ended and the other began, and other records seem to indicate that perhaps his first wife did not accept their failed marriage on her death-bed. Such is life!