Last year when we were in Korea we decided to subscribe to Ancestry.com so we could start creating one family tree for our newly formed family. We were able to trace our lineage back to when most of our ancestors came to America. On our European adventure we realized that the cities from which both of our father's families originate were within a few hours drive of Gelsenkirchen.
First we decided to visit Tourinnes-la-Grosse, Belgium. Jeff's father's side of the family left here in the 1850s to head to America. 
It was a super cute, super small town. You can tell everyone knows everyone because as we drove through the streets people looked at us with a look of "who are these strangers driving around!?!" 
After driving around the town we found the really old church that we were pretty sure Jeff's family belonged to. Inside we saw a cornerstone indicating that the church had been standing since the 1700s (which is a huge feat given the destruction caused by World War II). 
After looking inside the church we examined the cemetery surrounding the church to see if there were any family headstones. 
We weren't able to find any from Jeff's family, but there were a ton with the last name Degreve, who at some point married into Jeff's family. We believe that a Degreve married into Jeff's family and left her family behind when his family traveled to the US.
It was a super cute, super small town. You can tell everyone knows everyone because as we drove through the streets people looked at us with a look of "who are these strangers driving around!?!" After driving around the town we found the really old church that we were pretty sure Jeff's family belonged to. Inside we saw a cornerstone indicating that the church had been standing since the 1700s (which is a huge feat given the destruction caused by World War II). After looking inside the church we examined the cemetery surrounding the church to see if there were any family headstones. We weren't able to find any from Jeff's family, but there were a ton with the last name Degreve, who at some point married into Jeff's family. We believe that a Degreve married into Jeff's family and left her family behind when his family traveled to the US.Later on in our trip we drove to Glandorf, Germany, where Mia's father's side of the family lived before coming to America in the 1830's. 
We were also able to find her family's church, St. Johannis, but unfortunately the church is not the same one that the family attended. The church was destroyed in World War II, but parish rebuilt a new church, which was still pretty cool to see!
We were also able to find her family's church, St. Johannis, but unfortunately the church is not the same one that the family attended. The church was destroyed in World War II, but parish rebuilt a new church, which was still pretty cool to see!
We also found the "old" town cemetery, but we didn't find any graves there for people who passed away before World War II. Our best guess is that maybe the cemeteries were destroyed in the war, and the "old" cemetery was created after the war. Since the family left in the 1830s, we weren't able to find any grave, but it was still really interesting to walk through the cemetery and the town.
We have to say that visiting the exact places that our ancestors used to live was really a once in a lifetime experience that neither of us will forget.
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