NationStates Jolt Archive

My cousin and I recently spoke with our Grandmother concerning her family's history. She told us a lot about her childhood, and it wasn't a pleasant one. Her father was an alcoholic and left her mother. Her mother had been adopted and was extremly mean to her.

Her grandparents were very strange. She and her siblings were only allowed to in half of their grandparents house. She had written to her grandfather a lot, asking about his family history, but he would never answer that question. He answered all of her other questions, but never that one. One time she asked him at Christmas, but all he told her was that they were German. She also said that they were very secretive.

I did some research and was able to trace her grandfather's family pretty far back. They were indeed all German. But her story left my cousin and I feeling that there was some sort of family secret. Both her father and grandfather are dead. Her grandfather had two brothers (George F. Gaub and Friedrich Wilhelm August Gaub) as well as a sister (Bertha J. Gaub), but I can't seem to find any of them to talk to them. Her father was an only child. She had several brothers and sisters but they were as much in the dark as she was. We, my cousin and I, don't know where else we could look or who else we could talk to. Any suggestions?

Her father and grandfather were named Elmer Edwin Gaub.

Has anyone ever uncovered a family secret or is anyone aware that one exists in their family?

Also, can anyone tell me anything about a Croatian village called Kamenski Hrib (my other grandmother's ancestors were from there, last names Muhvic and Bozich)?

i used to honestly believe my family were aliens who had abducted me but apart from that i don't know of any secrets. my dad doesn't talk about his family much but i think thats more to do with lack of interest than anything else.

My only family secret goes like this:

My mother (when she was young) was looking through a photo album at my great-grandparents house when she came upon a man of clearly Native American descent. Since my Great-grandfather himself was around 50% Iroquois, my mother was curious about the man. When my great-grandmother walked in the room my mother asked about the picture.

The immediate and fierce reaction was that my otherwise completely docile G-Grandmother snatched the picture up and declared "Those are the Jones's, we dont talk about them." My mother never saw that picture again.

i used to honestly believe my family were aliens who had abducted me but apart from that i don't know of any secrets. my dad doesn't talk about his family much but i think thats more to do with lack of interest than anything else.

I suppose that could be the case with her grandfather (I mean lack of interest) only it seems strange that they were only allowed in half of his house and I didn't even respond to the questions about it in my grandmother's letters.

i used to honestly believe my family were aliens who had abducted me but apart from that i don't know of any secrets. my dad doesn't talk about his family much but i think thats more to do with lack of interest than anything else.

My only family secret goes like this:

My mother (when she was young) was looking through a photo album at my great-grandparents house when she came upon a man of clearly Native American descent. Since my Great-grandfather himself was around 50% Iroquois, my mother was curious about the man. When my great-grandmother walked in the room my mother asked about the picture.

The immediate and fierce reaction was that my otherwise completely docile G-Grandmother snatched the picture up and declared "Those are the Jones's, we dont talk about them." My mother never saw that picture again.

Interesting.

I hit a roadblock at my Great-grandfather. It was like he came from nowhere. Well after years of research I found his family was very big in the Quaker's (Friends) church and he had married a nonmember. The church wiped out every record they could find.

my family never had any of the good secrets only the bad hurtful spanning generations type.

although, my biological father left shortly after I was born (read 10 minutes) because (I was told) he wanted a boy.

however, I recently found him (within the last month) , he is in prison for killing his family so maybe it was good that he didn't stick around.

he is up for execution next year, if his last appeal doesn't go through, I think I will wait until I am sure they are going to kill him before I contact him, I don't want him getting out and hunting me down if he really is sick you know?

I hit a roadblock at my Great-grandfather. It was like he came from nowhere. Well after years of research I found his family was very big in the Quaker's (Friends) church and he had married a nonmember. The church wiped out every record they could find.

Oh, I traced the Gaub family back to the 18th century and I traced some of my greatGrandmothers' families to the 16th century.

my family never had any of the good secrets only the bad hurtful spanning generations type.

although, my biological father left shortly after I was born (read 10 minutes) because (I was told) he wanted a boy.

however, I recently found him (within the last month) , he is in prison for killing his family so maybe it was good that he didn't stick around.

he is up for execution next year, if his last appeal doesn't go through, I think I will wait until I am sure they are going to kill him before I contact him, I don't want him getting out and hunting me down if he really is sick you know?

I don't really think that any family secrets can be good, but I doubt most involve their father being a murder. Sorry to hear about that.

I don't really think that any family secrets can be good, but I doubt most involve their father being a murder. Sorry to hear about that.

I have no emotional attachment to the man at all, I just wonder why he did leave, I think my mom is lying to me about it, and the family has always just backed her up.

I have no emotional attachment to the man at all, I just wonder why he did leave, I think my mom is lying to me about it, and the family has always just backed her up.

I understand that. But if I found something like that out I think that I would feel very wrong, just to know that someone that close to you, even though you never met them before, who is in a way part of you, as they are you father, would distress. But it is good that you don't seem to dwell on it. Why would your mom lie about something like that?

I understand that. But if I found something like that out I think that I would feel very wrong, just to know that someone that close to you, even though you never met them before, who is in a way part of you, as they are you father, would distress. But it is good that you don't seem to dwell on it. Why would your mom lie about something like that?

to hurt me, or because she is hiding something. probably to hurt me though.

My grandfather is an avid lineage-tracer; we've so far traced back to the 14th century. Don't know about any family secrets, though.

I'm supposedly a decendent of Franz von Waldeck, a price-bishop in Munster in the 1500's who put down some big rebellion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Waldeck

to hurt me, or because she is hiding something. probably to hurt me though.

What would make you think that she would want to hurt you?

What would make you think that she would want to hurt you?

it's her M.O., other than that, she has told me countless times that I ruined her life, that I made my father leave her, and that I am the reason she is sick.

I am pretty sure that none of that is true, based on her track record.

My grandfather is an avid lineage-tracer; we've so far traced back to the 14th century. Don't know about any family secrets, though.

I'm supposedly a decendent of Franz von Waldeck, a price-bishop in Munster in the 1500's who put down some big rebellion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Waldeck

At least you decended from some one that you can find things out about. All that I can find on my family is when people were born, who they married and when the died. I can't even find when that side of the family came to America.
My other side is half Swiss (and they were all Amish) and half Croatian (two out of four sisters came to America to find a better life).

it's her M.O., other than that, she has told me countless times that I ruined her life, that I made my father leave her, and that I am the reason she is sick.

I am pretty sure that none of that is true, based on her track record.

Sounds a lot like what my Grandmother had told me her mother had said. What do you think she could be hiding by lying to you about something like your father being a murder?

Sounds a lot like what my Grandmother had told me her mother had said. What do you think she could be hiding by lying to you about something like your father being a murder?

no, I am pretty sure she doesn't know. If she did it would be one of those things she would use to guilt me, you know like I drove him to insanity by not being born male.

no, I am pretty sure she doesn't know. If she did it would be one of those things she would use to guilt me, you know like I drove him to insanity by not being born male.

You should look in to it to see if she is telling you the truth or not.

At least you decended from some one that you can find things out about. All that I can find on my family is when people were born, who they married and when the died. I can't even find when that side of the family came to America.
My other side is half Swiss (and they were all Amish) and half Croatian (two out of four sisters came to America to find a better life).

My grandfather is very skilled at finding these sorts of things out.

I'm about 40 percent Irish(Decended from the Murphy clan) and 30 percent German(From the Waldecks). The rest is a smattering of Serbian, Scottish, Swedish, and even a bit Bohemian, although that's techniclly Czech now.

My grandfather is very skilled at finding these sorts of things out.

I'm about 40 percent Irish(Decended from the Murphy clan) and 30 percent German(From the Waldecks). The rest is a smattering of Serbian, Scottish, Swedish, and even a bit Bohemian, although that's techniclly Czech now.

No one in my family every really got into the whole ancestory stuff (or at least no one that I no of). I do know a little about the ancestors from Kamenski Hrib because my other Grandma (not Gaub) had gone there for a family reunion.
But my grandma Gaub hadn't even known that her grandfather had any siblings, she had thought that they were her grandmother's brothers and sisters.

My cousin just called me a few minutes ago. She had been talking with my grandmother and found out the our great great Uncle August (we assume that means Fredrich Wilhelm August Gaub) was a professional violinist. But appearantly he went insane. That could be the secrete, but I think there must be something more to it than that which she doesn't know.

my family never had any of the good secrets only the bad hurtful spanning generations type.

although, my biological father left shortly after I was born (read 10 minutes) because (I was told) he wanted a boy.

however, I recently found him (within the last month) , he is in prison for killing his family so maybe it was good that he didn't stick around.

he is up for execution next year, if his last appeal doesn't go through, I think I will wait until I am sure they are going to kill him before I contact him, I don't want him getting out and hunting me down if he really is sick you know?
Wow,that's a bombshell! I understand wanting to contact him but considering the circumstances,consider yourself lucky. I was a foster kid who never really bonded with my foster family so as soon as i was able i searched for and found my biological mother,no word on my father yet, but considering some of the people i found i was related to, with the exception of my brother that i never knew i had,i was better off not knowing.