PeterEliasMD

I have been interested in genealogy since my daughter was studying the American Revolution in grade school and mentioned Major André being captured by three AWOL Revolutionary Army soldiers. When I told her she was a direct descendant of one of them (Isaac van Wart) she naturally wanted me to write out the family line – and I couldn’t. We set out to do this together, and I couldn’t stop.

One of the things I like best about genealogy is the absence of time pressure. There are no deadlines (only dead lines). It is impossible to follow every line, document every relationship and learn the context of every family and event. Since finishing is not possible, there is no pressure to finish. I simply do what I want, when I want.

The lines I follow are relate in some way to one of the following grandparents or their ancestors:

• Herbert Elias (and his progenitors in various Kauders, Wolf, Spitzer, Brilin lines)
• Ilse von Arnim (and her progenitors in various Riese, Beck, Hofmann lines)
• Basil Hicks Dutcher  (and his progenitors in various Price, Jacques, Ayres, Conklin, Oliver, Marsh, deCamp, Ogedn, Crane lines)
• Eberhardine Diez (and her progenitors in various Roth, Bauer and Schmidt lines)