Great Grandma

Early Spring in Verona.
April 19, 2020

In writing about my life over the last year or so, one thing that stood out was learning that my great-grandmother left Germany as a single 18-year old woman to be an indentured servant in the United States.

An online paper about German Immigration between 1709 - 1920 indicates up to 44% of Germans coming to America came over as indentured servants.  Think of it as a very expensive loan.  Someone paid for your passage across the Atlantic, in return you owe years of service.

Grandma Clara Mary Kaiser was born May 20, 1874 in Stuttgart, died July 24, 1966 in Decatur, Illinois.

She probably never saw her family again, only connected by mail.

My memories of Grandma Kaiser are hazy.  I don't think I saw her anyplace else but laying on the couch in the living room wearing dark sunglasses.  My great aunt Wera took care of her.

It is difficult to wrap my head around the circumstances that would lead to choosing spending years working off a debt to get to a country where you don't speak the language or know anyone.  The goal was finding a life, a good life.  

To succeed, to find that good life, took a level of determination that is probably found when there are no alternatives.

On days when we think how tough we have it... remembering those who traveled a much rougher road might be the attitude adjustment we need.