Groups – Week 25 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

More than Camaraderie

The stars aligned when a particular group of teachers found themselves in the 300 building at Desert Springs Middle School during the early years of the school. The six of us became much more than colleagues or neighbors; we became friends and a work family. We happened to have similar philosophies and shared a strong work ethic. We were all proponents of encouraging creativity and let our passions shine through.

Our building was a pod of six classrooms with a shared center room. We turned this room into our own mini teachers’ lounge. We moved in a refrigerator (given to us by a teacher’s aide) and a microwave. We not only worked on lesson plans, created projects, and brainstormed during our prep periods, but we also ate lunch together. Additionally (and festively), we celebrated birthdays and holidays together. Jim’s wife, Peggy, would come in on those special days and decorate. We were so fortunate to support each other while also having a lot of fun.

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Groups are an important facet of life – some we choose; some we fall into; some are conscious decisions; others are imposed upon us. According to www.nobaproject.com, “Joining groups satisfies our need to belong, gain information and understanding through social comparison, define our sense of self and social identity, and achieve goals that might elude us is we worked alone.”

As we explore our immigrant ancestors, this description of groups helps explain why immigrants often settle in areas where other immigrants from their native country have settled. I wondered why my maternal grandmother’s father and mother both ended up in La Crosse, Wisconsin  where they met, married, and had many children before moving on to San Bernardino, California. Both had been born in Germany and moved to Wisconsin with their families.

“By 1900 more than one million Germans had settled in Wisconsin.” www.wna-trip.www1.50megs.com/heritage.html. Immigration was a challenging prospect. In order to arrive in America, most German immigrants endured six weeks of “poor food, sea sickness, disease, crowded sleeping quarters, boredom, and death of others” in order to have an improved standard of living ( Germany/Prussia was in the middle of an economic depression during this time) and political and religious freedom. There was much anti-Catholic sentiment in Germany by some and the families of both my great grandfather and great grandmother were Catholic.

My great grandmother, Gertrude, was born in Germany in 1867. Her parents, Heinrich and Maria Schmidt, immigrated to New York with their young daughter. They arrived on May 24, 1869 from Hamburg, Germany on the Borussia. They then settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

My great grandfather, John Peter Antony, immigrated with his mother Otillia “Tilly” and his brothers in 1880, also settling in La Crosse. John changed his name from Antony to Anthony about 1886. (Two brothers retained the surname Antony while the other two brothers changed it to Anthony.)

John and Gertrude married in 1886.

Groups can help us find others with a common culture. By joining groups, we can learn new skills or gain information and knowledge. We can share interests, focus on goals, fulfill interests, and achieve personal growth. Our families are groups that help us understand our identities.