Ancestry Travel: Take a Trip to Find Your Family

Indiana to Germany

‘I feel like I have a bigger family now.’

Debra Wolfe, 65

Current residence: Fort Wayne, Indiana

Connection: Wolfe’s maternal ancestors hailed from Amelsbüren, a small town in northwestern Germany. Her paternal ancestors were also from Germany. They all arrived in the United States in 1847.

In May 2023, my cousin welcomed me and my husband to his farmhouse in Amelsbüren. He held a round tray with tiny shot glasses and caramel liqueur. He couldn’t speak English — our guides translated — but he toasted us, welcoming us to the family.

We came here because I’ve researched my family history for over 40 years, and I’d exhausted the records at home. I wanted to see where our ancestors came from. Family Tree Tours handled the logistics, helped with my research and found relatives. In the town of Offenbach an der Queich, I met about a dozen fifth cousins from the Gensheimer family, on my father’s side, at the community hall. The mayor attended and gave us a tour. Three different Gensheimer families live there. My research showed they’re all related, which they didn’t know.

Throughout the trip, I learned about my family. I received names and charts. I saw houses where my maternal and paternal ancestors lived. I learned that my cousin — the one who served us caramel liqueur — lives and farms on ancestral land, as our family has lived and farmed there for centuries. I learned that my maternal ancestors were in Amelsbüren before 1500. I discovered that one cousin on my paternal side works for the mayor, one is an elected official and other family members own a winery. I’ve been corresponding with some of my German cousins since our vacation, and we’ve exchanged names, dates and photos. I feel like I have a bigger family now.

As I walked through my ancestors’ villages and met relatives, I felt awe and gratitude and amazement at their hospitality for someone they’d just met. And I felt happy. I was like a sponge, taking it all in.

Florida to Sierra Leone

‘Sometimes I was in awe; sometimes I was in tears.’

Terri Reshard, 67

Current residence: Niceville, Florida

Connection: A genetic test revealed her roots in the West African nation.

My kids gave me an African Ancestry DNA test for a Christmas present in 2022. It showed that I’m from the Temne people in Sierra Leone. I was so excited, and in April 2023, I took a two-week tour with African Ancestry. Twelve of us were in the group. Some were Temne; others were from the Mende people.

The trip was profound for me. Sometimes I was in awe; sometimes I was in tears. We held a memorial on the shores of Bunce Island, where ships brought in and shipped out slaves. We dressed in white and stood in silence. Some prayed. Most of the slaves were shipped to South Carolina and Georgia, and I felt a connection: My mother was from South Carolina.

We met the Temne on a trip to Tasso Island. The ladies and children sang welcome songs as we left the boat, and we sat under a wide, beautiful tree. The chief attended, and we were inducted into the tribe.

I wanted to join the Tasso Island community long-term. I’m learning the language, and I am now a chieftain. My title is ya bomposseh, which I have been told means “woman chief.” I’ll be working with the chief to help women and girls in the villages. My daughter and I returned to Tasso in November 2023 and brought food and baby formula. Now that I’m retired, I’d love to go back once a year. I don’t feel like a visitor there. I feel at home.

Virginia to Northern Ireland

‘It’s this invisible but still powerful link.’

Pat Linehan, 69

Current residence: Manassas, Virginia

Connection: Linehan’s mother emigrated from Northern Ireland to the United States in 1928, when she was 4.

In the 1990s, my wife, Ronnie, and I got involved with a program called Project Children, and we hosted some children from Northern Ireland. We kept in touch with one young lady and attended her wedding in County Tyrone in 2020. We stopped in County Armagh, where my mother was born. In Killean, we found the church, St. Michael’s, where she was baptized, but it was closed for the day.

I started planning another trip, and I wanted to revisit the church. I connected with an Irish cousin, Pauline. Back in 2020, I’d gone to Detroit for a family funeral. Pauline and her husband flew over — I had a cousin who kept in touch with the Irish relatives — which is how we met. We lost touch, but when I started planning the trip, I wrote to the parish priest at St. Michael’s, and he reconnected me with her. “Stop by my brother’s house,” she said. “He’ll welcome you. He’ll put you up.” We arrived at his house in a big bus. There were 18 of us — me, Ronnie, our five children, two daughters-in-law, eight grandchildren. Inside, around 30 people were waiting. Many of them were cousins I’d never met. We sang, danced and played the tin flute.

That afternoon, we went to St. Michael’s. As we walked through the parish graveyard, and as my Irish cousins identified the graves of our family, my connection to these ancestors grew. Our get-together was in a cousin’s house, which belonged to my great-great-grandmother, and I met a nearly 100-year-old aunt. Her memory was fading, and only later did I realize she had been my mother’s playmate. It amazed me to think I met someone who knew my mother when she was a child. It’s this invisible but still powerful link. My maternal grandfather and grandmother both came from this town, so I met many family members from both sides. This is a small, closely knit community. Everyone knows everyone else, and their families are in some way related, even if it’s distant. One cousin took me outside and identified, from a distance, each family’s property. He showed me the farms and land of the family — names that I’d heard growing up.

This type of trip stays with you. Like family, it grows new roots. Since we’ve returned home, we’ve stayed in touch with the Irish relatives through Facebook. One of my cousins from New York is visiting Ireland with her sisters this summer.

I had brought our big group because I wanted them to learn about their heritage and to experience something they’d always cherish. Decades from now, I want my grandkids to say, “Remember when we went to Ireland?” But they’ve gained something more than memories. They’ve gained knowledge about who they are. And they’ve gained family.