I am a fifth generation German American on my father’s side, a descendant of Michael Harm (born 1841) in Freinsheim, Germany. Across the Atlantic, still in Freinsheim, dwell descendants of Michael’s brother Philipp Harm (born in 1839). How do we keep track of who is related to who?
One way is through a web site that allows us to keep track of family trees. One day in my email inbox, I received an invitation to join Verwandt, where a relative of mine in Germany had entered much of his family tree data, including pictures. Via this invitation, I was able to see what he had done and add information of my own. Hence together, we are building a Stammbaum, a family tree, of the descendants of the two brothers. The web site can be viewed in either English or German, although its first language is German and not everything translates. There is the opportunity to load photos, dates of birth and death, maiden names, etc.
There is an English language version of this program now working in collaboration with Verwandt called My Heritage. These kinds of sites allow family members to compile data even as we’re scattered to the four corners of the Earth. Like family reunions without jet lag, and no macaroni salad.