Climbing My Family Tree, Part Three

Immigrant Hazel Adelia Weldon de Meurers

My closest immigrant ancestor is my grandmother on my father’s side of the family, Hazel Adelia Weldon de Meurers. Hazel was born in Dorchester, (Westmorland County), New Brunswick, Canada on July 8, 1912. She was the oldest of four children.

Most of my grandmother’s ancestors can be traced back to England, but she also had a two times great-grandmother who was born in Scotland, and a five times great-grandmother who was a Wampanoag Indian.

Climbing My Family Tree, Part Two

Immigrants Bernard Paul Hubert von Meurers and Emilie Therese Nahrath

My great-grandfather, Bernard Paul Hubert von Meurers, was born in Dusseldorf, Prussia (Germany) on April 18, 1864. He was simply called “Paul” by his parents. He was the youngest of their four children.

Paul was born into what he described as an “aristocratic” family, with noble roots that tie back to when our ancestor, Matthias von Meurers, was Mayor of Breisig, which at the time was a part of the Holy Roman Empire, all the way back in 1588.

The “Schultheissenhaus” was the family home in Breisig, Germany.  From 1588 to 1794, a member of the von Meurers family was always in office. The initials W.M., for Wilhelm von Meurers (my seven times great-grandfather), can be seen in the window grilles. The carved numerals, 1670, document the year of the building’s construction.

Climbing My Family Tree, Part One

Immigrants Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris Allerton, and Mary Allerton Cushman

When you think of Plymouth Pilgrims, Mr. Isaac Allerton is frequently at the top of the list, undoubtedly the consequence of his surname beginning with the initial letter of the alphabet.

Isaac Allerton is my nine times great-grandfather. He arrived off the shores of Cape Cod aboard the Mayflower in November 1620, accompanied by his wife, Mary Norris Allerton (my nine times great-grandmother), his three children, Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary (my eight times great-grandmother). They also traveled with Isaac’s apprentice, John Hooke. 

We Are a Nation of Immigrants

America is home to the largest immigrant population in the world.

We truly are a nation of immigrants. We have come here from every corner of earth, beginning with our indigenous populations, who originally crossed the great land bridge in Beringia in ancient times.

It is a practice that repeats itself each and every day with the arrival of new people seeking freedom and opportunity, seeking to escape poverty and oppression, and seeking to give their children a better chance in life.

We share a common purpose, a common goal, and yet we, ourselves a nation of immigrants, fear—and all too often loathe—our fellow immigrants.