Honoring the Home Place

With my aunt, Barbara Leimback, on our
first trip to Holy Cross Cemetery in August, 1992.

Well... one of them anyway. I had a nomadic childhood and stumble for a good answer when people ask me my hometown. It depends on the audience and my answer varies.

My story parallels that of generations before me. If there was one child who ventured away from their family and hometown over and over again that was my direct ancestor. It is a recurring theme for many, I imagine, whose families made their way west. One such example from my cast of wandering antecedents is Joseph Troll who -- at the time his brother Engelbert's estate was probated in 1866 -- was "supposed dead, last heard from in California 12 years since." ¹ Fortunately not all of my ancestors were as negligent as Joseph in keeping their families informed of their whereabouts.

Now, in a curious turn of events, here I am drawn to retracing their steps backwards and returning to the communities that originally nurtured my ancestors. One such place is the unincorporated village of Holy Cross located about 7 miles north of Port Washington in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. Ozaukee County holds the distinction of being the smallest county in Wisconsin. Yet, it is the site of the largest settlement of immigrants to the United States from one of the smallest countries in Europe: Luxembourg. And, incredibly, at 1,118 mi² tiny Ozaukee County is larger than Luxembourg's 998 mi²!

I ended my trip to Wisconsin earlier this month with my traditional pilgrimage to Holy Cross Cemetery. On a overcast morning -- unusual for Wisconsin in August! -- I checked in with the greatest concentration of my ancestors buried in one place. A cool, gentle breeze rustled through the cornfields which surround the cemetery where it is so quiet the sounds of birds singing was the only other thing I heard. The cemetery is a serene, well-maintained place and after many visits I know just where to go and who to see! My great-great grandparents John Peter Ney, his wife Margaret Mans, John Evangelist Uselding and his wife Catherine Lauters are buried there; as well as great-great-great grandparents Josephine Hemmer, John Nicholas Uselding, Anna Maria Bastendorff, Nicholas Lauters and Margaret Bourton. Several miles away Anton Mans and Catherine Plier are buried at St. Mary's Cemetery.

Whether is it Twin Falls, Idaho, Gold Hill, Oregon, or Holy Cross, Wisconsin, I can rarely pass through ancestral home places without a detour through the local cemetery. On one hand it grounds me and the tangible evidence of my ancestors in the form of their headstones remind me of who and where I came from. It also inspires me to continue searching for the details that help tell the story of their life beyond the spare facts captured on those stones. The Luxembourg national motto is "Mir wölle bleiwe wat mir sin!" -- We want to remain what we are! -- and my cemetery visits are just one way I honor and live out what I am by remembering all those who came before me.

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1. St. Louis County, Missouri, probate case files, estate no. 7404, Engelbert Troll (1866), Probate file, 19 May 1866; Probate Court Clerk’s Office, Clayton.