I'm off to Deutschland.

I may not be posting on my blog for 5 days or so. Because I'm off to Germany. Tomorrow. To visit my German cousins. In the Palentine region of southern Germany. Not all that far from Bavaria. I've cultivated a close relationship with my cousin Fritz. In a town called Homburg. Which isn't the same as Hamburg, a much bigger city. Ancestors on my father's side of the family came from a tiny rural village, Kashofen, just outside of Homburg. Didn't know I had German cousins until I conducted research after I retired in 1998. I wrote to over 200 Germans with the surname Broede. The 'oe,' sometimes spelled merely with an 'o' with an umlat, makes the name German instead of Irish or English. By the way, I received 30-some replies to my letters. Fritz turned out to be a relative. We shared the same grandfather about five generations ago. A guy named Valentine Broede. With Fritz's help, I've traced my ancestors back to the 1600s in Switzerland. When we spelled our surname Brathi. My ancestors moved to Germany after the 30 Years War. And they evolved into Broedes. Guess that Brathi sounds like Broede in German. Fascinating stuff, isn't it? --Jim Broede