Chasing Ancestors
by Marc Mangel
We all have ancestors – it is a law of biology
(unlike whether, or for how long, we have descendants)
But where are they in time and space?
How do we find them?
And once found, how do we learn from them?
From the past and across great distance
What can they tell us about ourselves?
I am searching ancestors – chasing them in time
and space
Just today, I found another. Isak Pflugeisen– will you teach your great-grandson?
I want to learn from you.
I am chasing ancestors.
I am seeking their secrets.
My grandparents – four — handed to me by my parents
Though I only knew one of them
But even they had secrets
Why Markus Pflugeisen, rather than Markus Mangel (now answered)
Toni and Markus dying within a year of each other
in Vienna, before the real horrors started
Bessie – you had three husbands but two are invisible thus far
From where did you really come David Silver – second husband of Bessie– and why do you keep your secrets from me?
Each generation back
There are 2 times as many ancestors
now the complexity sets in!
But I have chased some of you down – hard as you tried to remain hidden
Markus Mangel ~ Marjem Pflugeisen, my father’s paternal grandparents
Moses Josef (Behrer) Bruck ~ Marjem (Meth) Bruck, his maternal grandparents
Abraham Leiben ~ Sarah nee?, my mother’s maternal grandparents
I am descended from two couples called Abraham and Sarah!
Some secrets resolved
Markus Mangel dies the day before the birth of his son,
who becomes Markus Pflugeisen
Great-great-grandparents – 16 of you whom I must track down.
Can I ever find you all?
I have found 4 – Toni’s grandparents
Jechiel Mechi Benzion Behrer ~Chave Sarah Brück
Jakob Menkes ~ Chaje Meth
Only 12 remain, a lifetime of chasing
Cousins!! Now that is something — how to count them
And their mysteries!!
Isak and Riwka – were you twins? Or did you
change in your age in a census? And why?
I am in the 21st century seeking people from the 19th.
I lack a time machine but have devices thought
impossible even for a futuristic world
They transport me in time and space to Austria, to Poland, to Russia 150 years ago, 200 years ago.
I am chasing ancestors.
Oct (2017)