Giving What You Long For

About the Book

GIVING WHAT YOU LONG FOR—A Granddaughter´s Reflection and Query into Her Ancestral Past

Giving the gift that she longed for since childhood, this documented family history memoir, told in the first person, takes the form of a letter written to the author´s deceased, maternal grandmother. Here, previously untold stories from their family´s collective past are recorded and punctuated with questions and wonderings posed to the grandmother as if the answers and details that went to her grave would fill in the blanks of their shared heritage. While taking the author on a journey of self-discovery, those unanswerable questions paint a picture of possibilities of what life might have been like for any number of immigrant families and their first-born American children at the turn of the last century.

In the telling of her family history the author explains basic genealogy concepts and techniques as she organizes the data gleaned from birth, baptismal, marriage, and death certificates; ships passenger lists and census records; old family photographs, letters, and diaries; and anecdotes from family members.

These are the stories of maternal grandparents of German descent, their children and parents and the beginnings of a new life in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York from 1871 through the 1960s. Having witnessed the Centennial celebration, two world wars, depressions, constitutional amendments and the every day mundaneness and drama of ordinary life, these common folk contributed their talents and fortitude to help build America, one day at a time.

What began as an attempt to secure dates and data from the documents of forefathers´ lifetimes has evolved into an exploration of self and the realization that personal history is more than the collection of data. The reader accompanies the author as she probes the thinking of the past generations and their attitudes and institutions, and how the outlooks and actions of the family past come to bear on who we shall become.

Writing from her grandmother´s future at the turn of this century, the observations of the author´s era are compared and contrasted with her grandmother´s way of being and living in Victorian times. Blending research with interviews to uncover her grandmother´s legacy and the connections between generations, the author explores old-fashioned values and combines them with hopes to inspire understanding, compassion, and forgiveness in the future.

This letter touches upon seven generations of family and the roles and contributions of ordinary women who, each day, make quiet, extraordinary efforts and sacrifices for family.

About the Author

Nancy Levin’s life-long interest in her roots has earned her the distinction of family historian. Intrigued by the questions of why and how we become the people we are, she has researched her ancestors looking for insights and answers. As keeper of the family, she has inspired, encouraged, and facilitated her family and others to celebrate and claim their heritage and to appreciate the value in connecting with the past. Mrs. Levin has a bachelor’s degree in home economics; she is the mother of three, and the delighted grandmother of a new generation of family.