52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 7 - Immigration

The theme for Week 7 is "Immigration." For many people, genealogy starts with a desire to know where our family came from. This week, consider an immigrant ancestor: where they came from, why they came, or how different their life was between their "old country" and their new one.

I know one of my immigrant ancestors, Johanna Louisa Fredricka Byer, came to the United States from German (Prussia).  She married Louis Blum and they had a daughter, Laura.  I’ve not discovered what happened to Louis, I am assuming he died, but don’t know for sure.  She then married Silas Ratcliff and they had several children together, including my Great-Grandmother Ada Indiana Ratcliff. Johannah was a teenager when she immigrated with her father. She would have had to learn a new language, and assimilate to life in the United States in the 1800’s.  I am looking forward to doing more research on her family and finding out as much as I can about her life. I expect it will be very interesting.