I am bound and determined to send for the ancestry.com DNA KIT. I really want to know a lot more about my ancestry.

I am blessed because I know a lot from mouth to mouth. I was the grandchild who always asked.

My Maternal Granny lived with me from ’63-’80, at 95 yrs. of age. My paternal Grandpa lived to be 106. I have a cassette tape of him telling me his life story. He was 102 yrs. of age.

I know a lot about my paternal side of the family. My great-grandfather- Constantine Ortlieb came to America from Boden Boden Germany when he was 16. I need to look it up, but that places his birthday sometime in the early 1840’s.

He fought in the Battle of Chicamaugwa, during the Civil War. He told my father that his unit, at the end of the war, liberated many Union Soldiers from Rebel Prisons. He told my father of the atrocities, which are still hard for me to write about.

After the war he was out West in the cavalry. He then came home to settle in the Cincinnati/Kentucky area. There he married a young German girl named Mary Schmidt.

There Children were Mary, Matt, Frank, Ed,?, and my grandfather, Harry.

They were raised tough old Germans. Gramps’s mother died when he was five. He was raised by his 13 year old sister, Mary. He watched his 9 year old brother drown, while swimming in a stone quarry.

Harry was a hard one. He could swim the width of the Ohio River. At 77, he was standing on his head ,while swimming with us at Rocky Fork Lake.

He did have a sense of humor, that came out, as he aged. However I was somewhat leery of him when I was little. Harry had one hell of a work ethic.

He married Salome Kolb. She was somewhat of a clairvoyant. Theatrics was huge in her family. I HAVE A CLAIM TO FAME. Her first cousin, Florense Ames(Kolb) was the bank inspector(short dude with the mustache) in the classic Xmas movie, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

When I was five and the Mickey Mouse Club was huge, He starred as old Mr. Applegate in The Hardy Boys and The Applegate Treasure.

My dad played football, was an avid reader, and a rhymer. He had an amazing work ethic. Even though he only went through 9^th grade, education was #1. He worked his way up from a factory worker at General Electric to a Supervisor. At retirement, he was training the college grads.

Therefore, this is what I inherited from my paternal side: work ethic,teaching, rhyming, love of education/reading, theatrics, love of company/people person.

Maternal side: Clem Haarmaan came to America sometime between 1860-75 from Oldenburg Germany. Ellis Island changed the spelling of the last name to Harman. When he came to America, he settled in Over the Rhine area of Cincinnati. He married Josephine Mestimacher. He ran a saloon.

Their children were the following: Albert, Joe, Stanley, Florine, Norma, and my Granny Edith.

My Granny always quoted,” I went to the 6^th grade. They put a corset on me and sent me to work in the shoe factory. I met Charlie Laible there in 1900. We married in 1908.” “ Another thing that that I was blessed with from your great-grandparents, was my Catholic faith. I’m so glad that they taught me how to pray.

Grandpa Charlie was a Factory Supervisor. I have a picture in my Granny’s Corner: She is a Forelady over seeing ladies at sewing machines circa 1890.

Then creativity and crazy sense of humor: OMG, when my Granny got together with my great-aunt Norma and Uncle Bill, it was nothing but hilarity, and a constant party. In 1958, at my grandparents 50^th wedding anniversary party, I remember the following: after a few beers, my great-aunt Flo, coming down the stairs in Granny’s wedding dress, with a lampshade on her head.

Growing up in the country (Montgomery…10 miles from Kings Island) we had 15 acres and a great place to play. Every weekend from May-Labor Day, it was family picnics at Aunt Babe’s and Uncle Ray’s. Trust me we played: softball, football, bad mitton, cards, brats, beer, German Potato Salad and Limburger Cheese Sandwiches with onion and mustard. Yep that’s the true German in me.

So, from my mother’s side of the family I inherited the following: work ethic, education, creativity, amazing social skills, faith, humor, cooking, AND TONS OF LAUGHTER!

Now my purpose in writing this is the following: ask yourself, ”What am I doing to pass on qualities from my ancestry?”

In regards to truth and faith, what gifts have I passed on to our sons/grandsons. I do know this much. It happily brings tears to my eyes…. My son prays with our twin grandsons nightly and is teaching them how to pray The Rosary. That’s a gift passed down from Granny. They also have a daily Bible Verse to memorize.

God is blessing Tom and I. We did some things very right with our sons: All 3 men of faith, All 3 teachers and football coaches, 2 head coaches.

MY POINT: Make sure that you are making a big difference in the lives of others. Pass great traditions of family and faith onto your grandchildren.

America was a very prominent Judeo-Christian Nation. We need to rebuild those morals and ethics. Think again, if you don’t believe that we are in the last days. Pray without ceasing, and pass on your great Christian Heritage.

Love,

Granny Sue