Do you know much about them?
I think I know quite a lot about mine! My family has been researched back as far as records go in Estonia (Like the 1600s. The ones before that were mostly destroyed)
There are many, many more stories that I have heard and remember and a lot of those that I have forgotten. There are happy ones and sad ones. There are all kinds of stories, but these are my favorites!
THere are many, many more stories that I have heard and remember and those that I have forgotten. There are happy ones and sad ones. There are all kinds of stories, but these are my favorites!
I think I know quite a lot about mine! My family has been researched back as far as records go in Estonia (Like the 1600s. The ones before that were mostly destroyed)
There are many, many more stories that I have heard and remember and a lot of those that I have forgotten. There are happy ones and sad ones. There are all kinds of stories, but these are my favorites!
I know my Great (3x) grandafather was a bodyguard for the last russian emperor and was gifted a sword by the emeror after he retired. Sadly the sword was lost sometime during the worldwars. He was a tall and handsome man, which is why he was chosen to be a bodyguard. He knew many languages and was generally a smart guy. He married his childhood sweetheart from the village he was born in.
I know one of my great (again 3x) grandparents were killed with an axe after the 1st world war, when hungry soldiers were wondering aorund the country loking for food. They were butchering a pig and they were killed because they refused to give it up.
My great (2x) grandmother was 4 when her family was forcibily relocated to siberia. She managed to get back into Estonia when she was 16 and lived to see Estonia free again. Her brother, was taken to Siberia aswell, but he COULD have gotten to stay in Estonia. He was coming home from university to visit the family and stopped to visit the nearby village before. The people there told him not to go home because the officials were already on their way to take the family away. He still went home, because he wanted to be with family. (Fun fact, that great (2x) grandma is who I am named after! I even have some old bedsheets and towels etc that she stitched and embroided!)
On the other side of the family, from my fathers side is where these stories are from. This one was witnessed by my grandmother when she was young. (So after the II WW) The soviets allowed each family to have 1 cow, 1 horse and 2 pigs. The animals weren't allowed to be any kind of a special breed either, those were all taken away for the country. The family had a cow, that had no white strip down its nose, due to that the family was afraid it would get taken away, so they painted the white strip on it!
My great grandfather fought in the II WW. He was stuck in the Leningrad blockade and got injured in a battle afterwards.
He was supposedly a really nice and happy guy. He pracically raised my mother, because her parents worked a lot. He used to tell my mother stories from the blockade if my mother nagged him enough. Of course it was always the kid friendly versions, but he talked about how dead people on the streets were such a normal thing that it wasn't even noticed by people.
He was supposedly a really nice and happy guy. He pracically raised my mother, because her parents worked a lot. He used to tell my mother stories from the blockade if my mother nagged him enough. Of course it was always the kid friendly versions, but he talked about how dead people on the streets were such a normal thing that it wasn't even noticed by people.
THere are many, many more stories that I have heard and remember and those that I have forgotten. There are happy ones and sad ones. There are all kinds of stories, but these are my favorites!