For those who know me well, you know that I’ve been working on a “genealogy book” for a few months now. I haven’t elaborated on what exactly that means, so I will talk about it here.

I’ve been working on my family’s genealogy for a long time now, and I’ve always wanted to write a book about my ancestors. I initially thought I’d write an “All my ancestors” book that would cover everyone in my family tree. I quickly realized, however, that this type of project would not only never get finished due to the sheer volume of information I have, but only a couple people would ever be interested in it, mainly myself and my children.

So, I’ve decided, for now, to write only about one branch of my family tree, the Seibert family, which covers all the ancestors of my maternal great-grandmother. The Seibert family holds a reunion each year, so I gathered info and photos from the family at the 2007 reunion and I’ve been working on compiling it for this year’s reunion.

Writing this book has actually helped me break through a lot of brick walls on this line of the family. I initially thought that I would only be able to go back so far, but since starting the writing of this book, I’ve discovered two more sets of parents and I’ve also found information that helps to substantiate or refute family lore that I had just assumed would never be answered.

I am very happy I’ve been able to find all of this info, however, the scope of the book has also grown quite considerably because of it, which might be a problem. At this point, I have much of the book already written in some form or another, but only three chapters are completely finished and there are eight more to finish, not to mention I still have to create the index, fix the source citations that LaTex (my typesetting program) screwed up, and edit photos/maps/charts to be the right size for the book. I still have so much to do that I don’t know if I’ll get it all done in time for the reunion this summer.

Another problem I’ve found, that I didn’t anticipate, is that I occasionally need to get away from the book for a few days and that just puts me farther behind schedule. I absolutely LOVE every aspect of genealogy, (Except maybe the hours I spend at the library or similar archives. I wish it were ALL online.) so I figured I wouldn’t mind spending most of my free time working on it. However, I’ve found that even I have limits to how much genealogy I can take.

If I don’t finish it by the 2008 reunion, it won’t be the end of the world. I’ll just end up finishing it for the 2009 reunion instead, but I did sort of promise it would be done and I would feel bad about not having come through. I’ll think about that later if it comes to that. I hope it doesn’t.

For those who want more details about what it will cover, this is the current Table of Contents (Each chapter will cover the people named in the chapter title as well as each of their children.) In parentheses, I’ve noted some of the info to be covered:

Ancestors and Descendants of Freidrich William Seibert (1889-1949) and Irene Mary Beckman (1890-1985)

Part 1: Ancestors of Freidrich William Seibert

Chapter 1. Valentine Frey and Katherina Knoerr (Will cover family lore dealing with wine making and being a “millionaire”)

Chapter 2. Jacob Seibert and Malinda Frey (Will cover involvement with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and community service in Louisville, Kentucky)

Part 2: Ancestors of Irene Mary Beckman

Chapter 3. Moritz Sermersheim and Cacilia Berger (Will cover info on Waghurst, Baden, Germany)

Chapter 4. Charles Rix and Maria Anna Sermersheim (Will cover desertion, the battle of Vicksburg, aftermath of Civil war, and what it was like to apply for a pension)

Chapter 5. Herman Peter Beckmann and Katherina M. Stroemsdoerfer

Chapter 6. John Herman Beckman and Drusilla Irene Rix (Will briefly cover WWI)

Part 3: Freidrich William Seibert and Irene Mary Beckman and their Descendants

Chapter 7. Freidrich William Seibert and Irene Mary Beckman (Will cover union organization in Akron and Barberton, Ohio and political activity in the Communist party)

Chapter 8. Thelma Corrine Seibert (My great-grandmother; will cover her life as a civil rights lawyer who was involved with the Communist part)

Chapter 9. Dorothy Dixie “Dots” Seibert

Chapter 10. Linton Frederick “Buzz” Seibert (Will cover the “Battle Axe Regiment” in WWII: Saarbrucken, Spicheren, and earning a Purple Heart)

Chapter 11. John Rix “Babe” Siebert (Will briefly cover WWII, stationed in Australia)

Appendix A: Theobald Seibert and Catherine Kintzer (Probable parents of Jacob Seibert; Will cover info on Wolfersweiler area of Oldenburg, Germany)

Appendix B: Explanations of trades/occupations (Will cover cabinetmakers, patternmakers, carriagesmiths, coopers, among others)

Appendix C: Explanations of diseases/causes of death (Will cover mainly different cardiovascular diseases, but also Bright’s disease)

Once this book is done, and I’ve had enough time to fully recover from writing it, I plan to switch to another branch of the family and write about that one. However, as of right now, I’m not sure which branch I want to work on. It’s been so long since I’ve looked at any other part of my family tree that I really don’t know which one would be the best to attack. Having said that, I think I’ll probably lean toward my grandfather’s family regardless. My grandfather has such a wealth of knowledge regarding the family that it just makes sense to tap that resource before I no longer can.