Elizabeth is an 89-year old resident of Woodside Terrace, a Brookdale Community in Red Wood, California, who has always been interested in her family’s history. After traveling from Germany in the 1680s and settling in Pennsylvania, Elizabeth’s father’s family was very active during the revolutionary war and is associated with some of the first documents denouncing slavery. Elizabeth is very proud of this history and wants to make sure that it lives on through future generations.
When she retired, Elizabeth and her son Brian began researching their family tree and put together a book with genealogy information, personal letters and documents, and even photos stretching back through many generations. Despite the amount Elizabeth knows about her family’s history, she has never been able to connect with it in any more direct way than through antique documents and photos.
Recently, Elizabeth received a letter from a second cousin on her mother’s side in Pennsylvania inviting her to an upcoming family reunion. She saw it as the perfect opportunity to visit Pennsylvania and not only connect with her extended family on her mother’s side, but also connect with the history of her father’s family that she has studied for so long.
Wish of a Lifetime and Brookdale are thrilled to have sent Elizabeth and Brian from California to Pennsylvania in September 2014. There they got to attend the family reunion and meet many family members for the first time as well as visit homesteads and other historical sites linked to their family. Some of the highlights for Elizabeth were visiting the Lower Skippack Mennonite Church to show Brian where her family’s earliest known settlers are buried and meeting other family members who share her love of genealogy.
