Day at the beach, German style

It's a day at the beach with relatives in Berlin. Since my grandmother is about 5 years old, it was taken somewhere around 1925-26. I believe these are her mothers relatives. I was thinking it was taken on the beach near the lake in Berlin, but it could have also been taken near the Baltic Sea on Holiday?

 I have found fascinating documents since starting this blog. My great grandmother had several siblings from August Mannewitz and Berta Therese Anna Lange. It was a surprise, since I thought she was an only child. Another person that I thought was an only child was my great grandfather on my Opa's side.His name also Paul Stapf. I found a marriage certificate of a Friedrich Albert Otto Stapf with Paul's parents name on it! What a find! He died in 1941 in Berlin and I do not know if he and his wife Anna Bertha Lisbeth Kolhoff had any children. The search will continue though. My Opa as far as I know was the last Stapf from his line. Oma and Opa had a son but he past away when he was 18 months old from a freak accident. Hot water had scalded him when he reached for a pot on the stove. There had to have been an underlying issue as to why he died besides having hot water spilled on him. Of course I guess shock would have been the cause of death. Mental note to look at that certificate.

I have seen other families photos from Germany that seem to have similar photos. There was a site where a fellow posted his Oma's pictures online. They were so similar in area and time, that I felt like I was going to find my Oma in his pictures. He had class photos and one very similar to this beach scene. That site no longer is available. Such a shame. I truly enjoyed looking at those Vintage photographs. Hope I find them again.

My Oma with her sister Ulla

Grateful for finding information

Somehow, somewhere I started finding information. I managed to find the names of all my Great grandparents and even names of almost all my GG Grandparents. So....how wonderful is that. Posted a question on German Genealogy that half way answered how my Grandmother's family was from German Nobility. Came across another site that answered many of my Biological fathers linage. I have even seen some pictures of ancestors.
One only wishes for more of course. For now I will be grateful for what I have.

One day I foresee more information online where one can research in all languages. By then, those of us who are pioneers in getting the questions answered that we have access to while we have a chance are simply people who are laying the groundwork for future connections.

So things I am looking forward to are....Sachsen-Anhalt in Germany to digitize their records. I know it will happen. I just hope soon. And wouldn't it be just awesome if there would be translations on all of these records? Now I am dreaming.

 I do wish I were able to come across pictures of who the people are that I have in my tree. I have my generation and pictures of my parents now. Like I said I should be pleased that I got the information I have.

Not sure what people who are looking at biological fathers tree think seeing my name come up, if they even see it. Perhaps there are those who do not believe, but I only know what I know. I can not change my history or my make up of who I am, or who I was produced from.

A picture of me from when I was 30

The first picture I ever saw of my Biological father...officially. I saw other pictures of him that remind me of me. Different photo shots. I call them my awkward photo shots. Seems he had many different looks. This was a very good picture. It is the only one I can borrow though.

A nice picture of my mother after she gave birth to me in 1961. I colorized it using Black Magic. It turned out nice I think.

A picture of my Grandmother, an unknown man and my mother in her younger years.

Did I mention I like pictures?

Family Picture

In this photogragh,is Kathe von Brand (geb. Mannewitz) with my great-grandfather. my great aunt is sitting next to my Oma who is sitting with the doll. The other 2 unindefied persons are other relatives. One I do know is an aunt.

I have been researching more things. Still no luck on finding concrete links to the German families,

*Note, the man that I thought was my Great Grandfather is not him. My Oma said to me he is an Uncle. I found the death certificate of my great grandfather and he died in 1920, when my grandmother was only 3 and a half months old. It was a wonderful find to find the documentation but....now I wonder who he was.

A picture of my Oma with her sister Ulla and her mother Kathe. Ulla was married  to Ernest (Ernie) Brackertz. I know Ulla's birthday was January 7th and I think she was 7 years older than my Oma, which would mean she was possibly born in 1913. My great mothers birthday was sometime in November.  Have no idea how old she was when she had my grandmother. I believe I was told she died possible in 1964, maybe. Again just have clues but can't find out anything. 

I wonder if joining Ancestry.com , the international version would be better for finding more info. I have tried using the Google, German version and spelling as if it were the German version. Despite me not knowing how to speak or write German. I do have a small understanding of what I read. I would never be able to ask a question in the language or send an email. 

I think my great grandmother was a single child, but I don't really know..... I know she was born Mannowitz. Another rare last name. Can't find squat about it. My grandmother also spoke of the aunts she had. 

It was also said that Ulla was from a previous marriage. I wonder what her maiden name was if my Great grandmother had been married before.

My Great grandfather , Great grandmother pictured with Ulla perhaps in 1919. Kathe was pregnant with my grandmother in this picture.My great grand fathers name is Gustav Theoder Von Brand.

March 21,1940 A Wedding in Berlin

Ingeborg and Paul Stapf

My Grandparents on their Wedding Day. Married March 21th,1940 in Berlin. My grandmother was 19 years old and my grandfather was 27. I remember her telling me that they had given Bibles to the newly wed in Germany. But instead they got a copy of Mein Kampf . I believe they married in the Courthouse at the time. Whatever is equivalent to a Courthouse in those times in Germany. But there again I don't have proof or do I????? I know my mother's birth is in a little official book along with my aunt's birth and their brothers birth and death dates. Was the marriage certificate in there and I missed it?

A pamphlet from the wedding party written by her Tante Else. My Oma's name is written there with my Opa's. There is a backside to this if I recall, but at the moment I don't know where I hid it at. Trying to find pictures, I realize that I should organize this stuff better. Too many scattered folders.

Some Background, as if you really wanted to know, but you might

And so it begins. Here is my mother and Daddy with me as a baby

When I was younger, we lived with my grandparents. One of my favorite things to do on a boring rainy Sunday afternoon when my grandmother had a free moment, was to sit down next to her looking at her pictures. She would tell me who everyone was and tidbits of history associated with them. I swore at the time I would never forget. After all she was the most special person in the world to me and how could I ever forget what she told me? Right? Hence 40
years later I realize I should have written it down. She passed away in 1982. A little over 8 months after my Opa died. I really thought I would have more time with her. When death comes, it doesn't usually come when it is convenient or when you are ready.


I have been trying to research my relatives for decades now. Ever since we got online service with the dial up modem in 1995, I have been searching . With my grandparents last name being Stapf, I thought for sure this would be easy. It is not a common last name , but yet I have not been able to pin point where the ancestors are in the digital world. Apparently there are no actual links to the persons that are on internet as far as Genealogy goes

 Onward to my grandmother.....I thought for sure I would be able to find something on her and her family. After all, her father was a Count. Their last name was Von Brand. But no links that I can find there either.

Problems in this thinking is that I only read and speak English. My German is minimal at best.  I know enough to sift through some articles or web sites. I now know that Brand translated to English is fire. Type in Brand and there are lots of pictures of fires.

That is only my mothers side of the family.

As far as my Fathers side. I have two. There is the one who fertilized the egg and then there is Mr. Wade aka Daddy. As far as Genealogy goes, I think I got somewhere with Daddy's, and his stories that he told kind of match up to what I found. I found a picture of some Field Marshall in England, who favors my father a lot. That was exciting!

As for the one who made my mother pregnant, he was one of the children of the families in El Salvador who sent his son to school in the US during the late 50's , early 60's. One of the 17 or 20 families who ran the country. I have a name, I have an old address and needless to say, no knowledge of the language there either. Figures I took French due to my grandfather insisting it was the language to learn. I didn't like it and gave it up after 2 years. I could find some things on the internet but there again nothing concrete. I even tried looking him up on Facebook and sent a message, but with no results on my end. I have no idea if he is still living or what on earth he looked liked. I have tried looking at several online yearbooks in the Washington DC area as far as colleges go, and always a brick wall.

It's as if no one really existed. I am sure as time goes on everything will be available to a point on the internet, but until then I have to sit and wait for it to happen. This is my contribution to making it happen.