https://www.myfamilystory.me/blog daily 0.75 2025-09-07 https://www.myfamilystory.me/blog/lincoln-family-connection monthly 0.5 2025-09-07 https://www.myfamilystory.me/blog/what-happened-to-carl monthly 0.5 2022-03-06 https://www.myfamilystory.me/blog/looking-for-a-sign monthly 0.5 2022-02-27 https://www.myfamilystory.me/blog/blog-post-one-ebkjz monthly 0.5 2022-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613404296397-FHDR8T7XSK9B41DBWW3V/chair.jpg Blog - The Chair https://www.myfamilystory.me/blog/blog-post-four-tag3l monthly 0.5 2022-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613404553844-DGFW1C7QLS8URIYKU7HR/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Pieces of Me https://www.myfamilystory.me/home daily 1.0 2022-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1620416720324-OZKLVPJPORKS1TOZC3RL/IMG_9276.jpg Home - Preserving Family History Connecting with the stories of the past; people, places and situations can bring more context to who we are and an appreciation of those that have been before us. We’ve collected stories of Puritans, Pioneers, Revolutionary & Civil War Soldiers, Railroaders, Entrepreneurs, Craftsman, Public Servants, Farmers and more that highlight the ordinary lives of those that make up our world. It is important to invest in knowing and learning about our family histories and pass down the stories so we stay rooted in where we come from; continually evolving ourselves and the world around us to be a better place. https://www.myfamilystory.me/our-vision daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1619280927473-Q132N9CKXUK4JRQ3NVTW/unsplash-image-2T3Si4N2FA0.jpg Our Vision - Our Vision Our lives are ours to live how we choose, that is an amazing gift each one of us has been given. An even greater gift is to share that life with those who can and do have an appreciation for it, even after we are gone. Telling stories, listening to stories and documenting those stories is what makes it all worth while. We created My Family Story as the one place where families can go to learn more about their heritage and those who came before them. It is a place to collect, curate and share all of the amazing stories and information that have been gathered between various family members but may be scattered across different people, in personal notebooks, various historical society’s, other printed or online materials or even physical artifacts. Ensuring strong family communities continue to thrive and preserve what is important to them is important to us. Creating connections between family members, their stories and our own stories that deepen relationships, improve our understanding of ourselves and cultivate an appreciation of those around us is what we hope for from this project. Thank you to the many family members I have asked questions from, those who’ve given me their time or artifacts to cherish, those who have indulged my exuberance as I’ve learned new facts about our heritage and wanted to share and those that continue to support my discovery of myself. Each one of you has contributed to this project and I hope it others to create their own ‘Family Story’ website with us as well. — Heather Crince My Family Story Executive Director https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-falk-family daily 0.75 2022-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1615050448952-Q8HCEVBRFF4IJLATHB0W/Ship+log.jpg The Falk Family https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1614562408847-NI4JEN8VMIWVDYJ2Z208/town.jpg The Falk Family https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-abbott-family daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/34561115-4ad5-4ae5-b449-de2e65bb1250/strawbery-banke-museum.jpg The Abbott Family - A Vintner & Innkeeper Strawberry Banke is the oldest neighborhood in New Hampshire to be settled by Europeans, and the earliest neighborhood remaining in the present-day city of Portsmouth, N.H. The history of this area goes back to 1630, when Captain Walter Neale chose the area to build a settlement, naming it after the wild berries growing along the Piscataqua River.[1] Strawbery Banke existed as a neighborhood for a little over three centuries from 1630 to the late 1950s. Walter Abbot (Abbott) was a Vintner upon leaving England, originally settling in Exeter New Hampshire as early as 1640. He first appears on the records of Portsmouth on April 5 1652 showing that he was a farmer & Innkeeper. He was one of the twenty two settlers to sign an agreement regarding the distribution of land and other arrangements for the governing of the settlement. He was made freeman July 14, 1657. He was then assigned a one acre lot and on this, he built a log house and then on January 22, 1661 the townsmen assigned him ninety nine acres. He was evidently a substantial citizen possessed of some means. He received unanimous consent of the town January 1, 1657 to keep an ordinary or tavern. He was surveyor in 1658 a member of the proprietorship committee in 1660 and 1664 and was selectman in the latter year. He also may have engaged in shipping enterprises as it is stated that he died in Jamaica before 1675. The inventory of his estate consisted of one hundred and fifty five acres of land with buildings including one log and two other houses The inventory of his estate was made in 1667 which would indicate that he died a long time before 1675. His widow Sarah married Henry Sherburne of Portsmouth. He had eight children; Peter, Sarah, Thomas, William, Walter, Mary, John and Elizabeth https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613617897045-35PWFNYNJU7B2OMCZ0ET/KC1390.jpg The Abbott Family https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-lamar-family daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1619790767575-L82JZFJMUUV24BEPTSWE/unsplash-image-vfzfavUZmfc.jpg The Lamar Family - The Battle of Vicksburg March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln took office to be the 16th president of the United States. It was a time of uncertainty and debate as seven states had been planning on seceding from the Union to create the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis’ leadership. Tensions were high for months and on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter, SC the dissension finally erupted effectively dividing the North & the South; starting the civil war, or “the War of the rebellion” according to official U.S. Records. In 1861, Elisha Lamar and his twin brother Elijah were twenty years old living in a small Indiana town along the banks of the Ohio river, by the name of Troy. Elisha had married Nancy Lynch a year earlier on April 29th, 1860 and Elijah had married Mary Minor in May of 1861, their lives were ahead of them. Until it wasn’t. https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-fix-family daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1621959345927-75N0WSOCDXL44QY7PMZP/wine+barrels.png The Fix Family - The Barrel Maker It is believed that Lorentz Fix arrived in Philadelphia at the age of 59, aboard the Ship Patience in 1751 from Offenburg, Ortenaukreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany and that the person identified as Lorentz Voss on the manifest is in fact Lorentz Vix (Fix). Family tradition notes Lorentz & wife Catharine Stull were referenced as “Pennsylvania Dutch” and almost certainly spoke German. Tax records indicate that Lorentz may have been in Reading as early as 1752 but was certainly there in 1754. Lorentz Fix was a cooper or barrel maker and bought land in Reading on 4 Jan 1757 from Joseph Shoman. On 6 Sept 1761 Lawrence Ficks (Lorentz Fix) of Reading “took the Sacrament” (became a naturalized citizen) pursuant to an Act of Parliament in allegiance to King George. On 14 July 1762 he acquired land(half of lot 117) on Penn Street in Reading, PA which became his home for the remainder of his life. Lorentz & Catharine had six children; two sons, Lorentz Jr. & George and four daughters, Catherine, Anna, Magdelana and Margaretha. Lorentz died in 1777 which is the same year that the smallpox epidemic raged in Pennsylvania, it is unknown if this is what caused it death. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613744152613-63YUBMRBUES47PL88I5J/HouseFix.jpg The Fix Family - Homesteading in Hostile Territory. Michael Fix was born 1814 in Pennsylvania but moved to Indiana with his wife Mary in 1845. After spending nearly eleven years in Indiana they headed to Kansas in 1856. Their journey was long; first coming by train to Westport, then by boat to Leavenworth and as they continued on across the plains, they came upon Mill Creek which reminded them of the hills in Pennsylvania so they decided to homestead. https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-mathies-family daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-hafenstein-family daily 0.75 2021-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613616559927-Q24C6O9XPOKVHHQTPN85/KarlKarolineHafen.jpg The Hafenstein Family - Karl and Karoline Karl & Karoline Havenstein were married in 1849 living in Brandenburg, a district of Prussia. They began their family of twelve in the small town of Petersdorf at a time of great political unrest and religious persecution. In 1884 Karl & Karoline left Germany to join their family who had immigrated earlier and settled in Kansas; upon arrival some of their children changed their last names to either Hafenstine or Hefenstine to be easily identified. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613616646895-KRWPZ7QY7OTV03VAXBFC/Hafenstein2.jpg The Hafenstein Family - The Palace Guard, The Chambermaid & an Arranged Marriage Minnie Scharcufski was born September 9, 1859. Over her life, she shared certain facts with her children and grand-children about her childhood. She lived in what is now Poland as a child, her mother was Jewish and her father was a Jewish rabbi priest; wearing a long black robe and cap reading from the Bible all day on their holidays. Her father was executed in Poven, Poland as a political show of force dying steadfast in his faith and commitments. After the death of her father, the Kaiser Wilhem II took Minnie to his Palace to work as an upstairs chambermaid. She would make up the beds and clean rooms in the palace. In an attempt to subsume the power of the Catholic Church in Germany, a civil law in 1874 was enacted that required marriage of German Jews who interacted with German non-Jews. By 1879 it became known that Minnie was Polish, Jewish and unmarried living and working under the Kaiser Bill, he knew he needed to find someone for her to marry. William Hafenstein born November 22, 1858, was the personal Palace Guard for the Kaiser and unmarried. Minnie and William were the same age, Kaiser Bill arranged for them to marry. Minnie had been seeing another man and making plans to marry; however the Kaiser did away with that man. Minnie & William met on a Sunday and a week later were married in the Palace on Nov. 9, 1879, a match ‘made in heaven’. In March 1887 they received permission from the Kaiser to leave Germany for a visit to the United States to visit Karl & Karoline, Will’s parents and his oldest brother August who had come to ‘the New World’ in 1884. They left Hamburg on April 24, 1887 via the ship Lessing and on May 7, 1887 the family landed on Ellis Island, New York. Minnie persuaded William to never return to Germany making their new home in Alma, Kansas with their four children born in Germany that traveled with them. In total they had eleven children; five children born in the state of Kansas, two children did not live to maturity. https://www.myfamilystory.me/families daily 0.75 2022-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1622129240846-YTHB63PWJ4I38CCGNT8H/abbott+coat+of+arms.jpg Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1619208985984-LXL7F1HXKSTBIDEL2GKT/Falk+Family.jpg Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1619213467360-M6S6TXNVR4VMG4M4C6QT/fix+home2.jpg Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1622135920276-UFS0EGH01XX6TIQRD5FX/huguenot+crest.png Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1613396834194-EQROLUI07WR2WNVYBHSS/image1+%281%29.jpeg Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1619281940918-Q60STXD4M1THHDNVIXV6/KarlKarolineHafen.jpg Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1620417116571-729JKJIKTX2ZAHAXURUA/unsplash-image-VNc7MxdLJNc.jpg Family Directory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/491c798d-cd15-4786-abf5-c5cf30ed9af7/50cd938d-eb25-4caf-9bb1-8afaf28d8744.jpg Family Directory https://www.myfamilystory.me/share daily 0.75 2021-04-30 https://www.myfamilystory.me/the-duncan-family daily 0.75 2021-06-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1622141417339-RNS37YIXJZRXQVX4186A/moores+fort+sign.jpg The Duncan Family - Attack on the Shawnee. Lord Dunmore's War, (1774), was a Virginia-led attack on the Shawnee Indians of Kentucky, focused on removing the last obstacle to colonial conquest of that area. Despite resistance from American Indians, for whom Kentucky was a traditional hunting ground, in 1775 Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people had entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone. Daniel Boone was in charge of Moore’s Fort and several other forts in the area. The Duncan family was moved there for safety during the ‘Indian Season’. Moore's fort was probably the largest of the frontier forts in southwestern Virginia. Its central location on the Clinch River, meant that militia could be stationed here and sent either north or south to repell Indian Raids, whether they came through the Sandy War Passes, or through Cumberland Gap John Pekin Duncan died at Moore’s Fort at the and of Chief Logan possibly as he ventured out to check traps. https://www.myfamilystory.me/thesocialitebusinesswoman daily 0.75 2022-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1615051156093-69M5TNHGKZKY9TIJ9NB9/ladies.jpg The Socialite Businesswoman https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1615051132999-ODS4YA3ULWJNQLFCG833/ads.jpg The Socialite Businesswoman https://www.myfamilystory.me/tanaccidentalshooting daily 0.75 2021-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/1615051683454-4XBG62I0JW9D06FI3LXM/SHOT.jpg An Accidental Shooting https://www.myfamilystory.me/battleofvicksburg daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://www.myfamilystory.me/hostileterritory daily 0.75 2022-02-27 https://www.myfamilystory.me/twofalkbrothers daily 0.75 2022-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602004815d52e74622997c16/506992ca-53df-41cd-8211-6b3467561f24/Screenshot+2022-03-06+at+12-02-20+People+of+the+Flint+Hills.png Two Falk Brothers - The Falk Brothers Carl Friedrich Wilhelm & Friedrich Danial August Falk are the sons of Daniel Friedrich and Marie Dorthea Falk. Friedrich & Carl, the eldest by 10 years, began their lives in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Friedrich married Wilhelmina Caroline Fredericka Woldt Borschart in 1836 at the age of 20. It took a bit more time for Carl to find his love with Fredericka Wilhemine Kramer in 1856 at the age of 30. Carl Falk and his wife Fredericka escaped from Germany in 1860 with their two young children; Carl II & Anna in tow. Decades of German wars and the requirement all males of fighting age must defend Germany may have been the catalyst to make the sixty-three day voyage to America. Carl Falk and his family settled near Rock Creek, a few miles north and east of Alta Vista, Kansas. As the newest state in the Union and a ‘Freestate’, this likely appealed to the Falk’s as their sons would not be subject to required military service. Here the Falk’s homesteaded and built their life. Carl is credited with helping establish the Zion Lutheran Church in Alta Vista and the Templin School in 1865. On his land he built a “Stone Fort” to protect from the marauders from the Kaw Reservations by building gun ports in the side of his new barn. Many early settlers like the Falks would write letters back to their loved ones still in country, telling them about the opportunity and challenges they were experiencing. There were no envelopes at that time, so addresses were hand written on the back of the folded letter. Sending a letter took many weeks to be delivered as the correspondence had to be sent by friends, merchants and Native Americans via foot or horseback and then handed directly to captains of ships who would transport the letters who would then deliver all mail to the posts at the first port of entry. August Falk, Carl’s eldest nephew, aged 21 in 1870 had influenced his family to leave their native country and settle in the Wabaunsee County, Kansas. Friedrich Falk (54) and his wife Wilhelmina Caroline (59) left Germany in 1870 with five of their children, arriving Castle Garden New York July 27th; 10 years after his brother Carl had made the voyage with his young family. We can assume that Friedrich’s family reached Carl’s homestead and then decided to go a bit further toward Alma, Kansas settling there, building their lives. Sources: Ancestry.com, People of the Flint Hills