Finding Family in Niederaula

Last week we spent in Marburg. I have a relative who lives not too far from there in Niederaula, a small town in rural Hessen. He met my grandparents back in 1980, and two of my cousins in the 1990s. When he was a little boy in the 1950s, he met my great grandparents when they came to Germany for a visit. Now it was my turn.

Wolfgang and Doris welcomed us into their home and introduced us to all their family. They are so nice, and they were really excited to meet us. I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous to meet them because they were basically just strangers who had met my family years ago. But it turns out that they are in contact with some other people in my family via email.

Wolfgang keeps four giant German hares. When they are full grown, they are about one meter long! They were huge already at six months, and their ears were so long and perky!

Wolfgang drove us through the town where the original man who emigrated to the United States, and from whom both of us are decended, came from. The little village of Bieben is today not much more than a main street with a few side streets. Back in 1856 young Johannes Kranning left Bieben at age eighteen to try his luck in America. He eventually settled near Peru, Indiana, married, and had five children. Five generations and 120 years later, I came into the picture!

Although contact for many years between the families in Germany and the USA had been lost, both families knew that there was family on the other side of the ocean. Then after WWII, my great-grandparents somehow got in touch with the distant relatives and came for a visit. Ever since then, there has been steady contact. It feels very special to be able to continue that.

I met Wolfgang's granddaughter and grandson. Maybe somehow we will keep in touch and contact can continue.

In this picture Wolfgang and I are standing in front of a house in a town near Bieben called Breitenbach, where an aunt of Wolfgang's used to live and in front of which there are pictures of my great-grandparents back in the 1950s.