Janie Beyer

This week we were challenged to write about our family history and background. My family is huge mix of different ethnicities. Mainly we come from Germany. Our name “Beyer” seems to show that very clearly. However we do have a small portion of Native American, very little Italian, and some Czech. On my mom’s side my great grandmother’s ancestors were from Alsaice Lorraine which is a region of France on the border of Germany. Basically they had a strong German influence but happened to be zoned to France. On my dad’s side majority of my ancestors were German and some were Czech. My mom’s dad’s family brought in the twist of Native American and Italian. Which I was grateful for because it brought a little diversity.

Another thing my family seems to pride itself on is the fact that the inventor of football is tied into our family tree. Joe Camp comes from my mom’s side and because of my family’s love of football we never seem to forget this. My family never took our German background too seriously. We still eat mostly “American” food for holidays, we don’t go to any German festivals, and honestly we only bring it up when the kids do assignments like this. However it is still a part of us. My great grandparents still have stories that were passed down from their grandparents about their lives in Europe. It’s interesting to listen to every once in awhile. And it’s cool to see how everyone’s pasts tie together.