I Should Have Been a Schnautenhaus

I wanted to post it here, but the script wouldn't work on blogspot, so here is my family tree, color-coded with the migration status of my ancestors. This project had its roots in a California Geography class I took two decades ago at El Camino College, when the assignment was to summarize the immigration history of my ancestors. Below is an expanded (beyond what was on my former Website) Javascript version of just my mom's side, four years in the making (mostly four years of not getting around to finishing it).

This wouldn't have been possible without the work of my cousin Brian who did extensive research and put together a book on the Schwerin family history. I intend to refine, update, and fine tune the page as needed.

The surprising thing is that despite my grandfather's parents "arriving" (one was born there) in San Francisco by 1864, the proportion of my ancestors that never reached the New World (in black text) is overwhelming. Going back 350-450 years, 67 of my direct ancestors on my mom's side never reached the New World, one reached the New World but not San Francisco, four migrated to San Francisco, and only three (including my mom) were born in San Francisco. If we look back only to the last 164 years, since my first ancestor to get off the boat arrived in San Francisco in January 1850, four migrated and only three were born here.

That is fascinating because if you think about how long white people's families have been in California, it really isn't very long when measured in direct ancestors. I feel like my family has a long history in California, but only three of my direct ancestors on my mom's side were born here and only about five or six on my dad's side. On my mom's side, 8 lived in California, and probably 9 on my dad's side. So my generation is the pivot point where half of my direct ancestors that lived in California were born here.

Think about how new we all are! How quickly we have changed this state! Can we please stop messing it up and work a little harder to live here sustainably and restore the amazing and incredible natural environment that we took from the natives? Because a lot of us plan to be here a while...