Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Theresia Kennedy [send private message]

Theresia Kennedy has German Roots.

Theresia Kennedy has Czech Roots.

Theresia Kennedy .

Theresia Kennedy has Scottish Ancestors.

Descendant of several Magna Carta Surety Barons.

Theresia Kennedy is a descendant of a Mayflower Passenger.

Theresia Kennedy is related to a US President.

Descendant of a Southern Colonist.

Theresia Kennedy has English ancestors.

Biography

I am Theresia A. Kennedy. I am the only daughter of Bill Kennedy and Theresia Pitroff, Kennedy. I am the third child and a Jr. to my mother's name.

My mother, Theresia Pittrof, was born in 1934 in a small town called, Witchin, in the Western Bohemia of Czechoslovakia. The family moved to Wesertiz, also is in the Western Bohemia of Czechoslovakia. They lived in an area that was settled by Germans and Czechs alike during the time Germany was moving to Germanize areas of land they called, the Sudetenland. Her father's family lived in Czechoslovakia for many generations and some relatives were more from the Czech blood line and stayed in Czechoslovakia after the war because of their Czech heritage. However, moms parents and siblings were to be removed from that country because they were more of the Sudetenland Germans and Czech mix.

Mom has a love of History and Archeology her whole life. Even after her many strokes, she continues to watch and love it. She does not tell me many stories today, but you see the Smile and Light in her eyes when history from all over the world is on her tv and she watches it closely.

When I was growing up, she use to tell me about Czech and Germany. She told me about her childhood home in Wesertiz, running and playing with her cousin in the castle, that was just across the road, from the farm house that her grandfather built with his very own hands. This house was a Blacksmith shop when he purchased it, but he was not a blacksmith, he was a Mason. He had purchased it with intentions to turn it into a family home for his children. He tore it apart and rebuilt it out of stone and wood because he was a mason by trade, he worked on it night and day, until it was finished and had a second story on it. His family moved in and it was in the family for 2 more generations until after WW2 was over. The family was driven out of Czechoslavia back into Main Land Germany, so the family lost everything. The reason he wanted that lot was because on the other corner of that land was another two story house that was his brothers. He wanted everyone to be close together.

To jump ahead 51 yrs later to 1998, I took mom back to Europe where her family are in Germany. This was the first time she had been back since she married in Augsburg, Germany and flew to Arizona, USA in late 1960. Her father had long past, by the time she returned for a visit, but her mother and siblings were still alive. It was very interesting and nice for me to see her with her close family and see where she got all of her traits from. I can see where and how her ways about her came from.

We all drove to Czech, now that the gates are open, to that small village they are from, very different, run down, poor, and the entire lot where both houses laid were cleared, nothing left for them to see. It was a sad thing to witness in their eyes. The castle was still there...looked run down and was a residence for someone now. We walked around the fenced off grounds and she remembered her childhood with her cousin. They use to run up and down the hill, run along and on top of the stone fence. They would sled down during snowy days and run down to the lake about half a mile away across a farmers field. She pointed with excitement while telling me her story as she showed me using her hands with great energy to describe her happy memories. She kept telling me that that hill was a volcano at one time and there are rich mineral waters around the town. The area of Czech that she is from has many areas of Mineral water's that have visitors come to drink, bathe in, or apply the mineral rich muds to their skin. This cousin, I referred to had disappeared, no one knows if he was still alive or what happened after the war ended when everyone was separated. His familiy were part of the few that were allowed to stay because of their Czech heritage. Mom had said, that she had aunts and Uncles on the Eastern side of the "Wall" that Russia had built to separtate and claim the eastern side of Europe shortly after the WWII was over. She had written to them for many years while Living with her parents and when she lived in the United States. I remember going to the post office in the afternoons to pick up some European Over Seas Stamps for Air Mail, and mailing her letters with the stamp of Eastern or Western Germany on them before "The wall" was toren down.

Mom continued to be emotional as we walked along the village of her birth. Her grandparents were buried there in a Tomb, but we could not find any trace of the Tomb or of them. The German Cemeteries were destroyed and replaced with Czech Cemeteries for their families, and placed above them. Mom explained this to me that Germany and Czech both reuse their graves, when we went to see my grandfathers grave in Aldorf, so it wasn't a surprise when we didn't find her families graves. She told me how they re use the graves by putting them on top of the last person. Here in America that would be unheard of and we would not let that happen, but in Germany it is what they do. I am not sure if, its because of limited space. Mom remembered a young woman that was buried outside the stone fence of the cemetery, because she died unmarried during child birth, (very old tradition, which I think is sad), in Wesertiz.

As we continued to walk we went down a street towards where her grand mothers Bakery Shop would have been in town only to find it was torn down and in its place was a garage for a family home. We walked back up a differant street and stopped at a stair case that lead up to a small building on top of a hill. Mom tolded, me she walked and went up those steps as a young child to her school, as we stood there looking at all the changes. We went on further into town where it was flat ground, walked past her old church, looking thru the windows and so many more areas. I enjoyed visiting and learning about our family history from the walks and stories mom interupted for me. However, it would have been more informative for me, if I was able to understand German with them, then I would have been able to ask many questions.

I was not ready to return back to the states at the end of my month with mom. It was so relaxing, peaceful, and felt like home to me. I enjoyed my walks with my 89 year old Oma thru the mountain side. As we walked she would point out things a couple days in a row until the third day. She would again point, but this time she wanted me to tell her what it was, lol. She was an interesting woman and would have enjoyed learning more from and about her. I felt like I had finally found my family, like so many other people I knew that grew up with or knowing their extended family, that I did not have.

I grew up with all these stories for fairy tales and I didn't need those storeies from books, because my moms life seemed like it was straight from a book. I loved listening to her as she told me, as I sat below her by her feet, in the evenings and looked up to listen to her recite memories and about stories of history as she knew it. She would always tell me about all of Germany, about castles, and about all that Archeolegy and History. We would watch tv shows in the evenings or weekends of Travels to Europe and she would narrate them for me and tell more then what the man on tv was saying or not saying. I grew up with this as my childhood and has made me such a fan and enthusiast of it today. Maybe this is why I am interested in Geneaolgy, History and Archaeology. I took many classes of this in College and loved every minute of it.

Ok, to my Childhood in a small town in Texas.... I grew up in a time when kids still were very free to roam, have projects, and adventures in the great outdoors. We ran wild thru our small town of 12,000. I would ride my Big Wheel into town, thru the side walks, and loved this court yard at the Baptist church, because it was a very large area of sidewalks. I had a friend there, she was very old, is what i thought at that time, in her 70's, and she would sit outside across from that church in the afternoons. I would go over there many of summers, to help mow her grass, pull weeds, climb up the pecan tree and shake the pecans down when in season for her. She was kinda of like my very own grandma, even though we were not related.

We, my two brothers and I, had so many adventures because we lived on the edge of town in the country side . We had dunes to ride motorcycles, bikes, or go carts on. We had open fields to be crazy, to camp, and explore. There was a city park, right down the end of our very long street, with a pond and river that ran thru its entirety to explore. I would hunt for craw dads in that pond and creeks all day in summers. There was a hilltop just across the street from my home that I could run up to explore. I built a fort between two large boulders and placed a thatched roof on it so I could look out. It over looked a field, a farm road and traffic leaving the city. It was my peace of heaven. It was freedom at its finest.

My brothers loved to tinker with mechanical things. Danny and Mike would take things apart, rebuild it, try to make it go faster, trade and help friends in the neighborhood with their projects. If it had a motor....they fixed it or took it apart until it worked. I helped from time to time. Once I remember, I was used as a counter weight to balance a motor, I stood on it, while they began lowering it down into the old Red Ford 1940s truck with a motor lift, so the weight of my 10 yr.old self would guide it in. It was great... However, mom was not liking it at all. I learned to appreciate and not be afraid of things. To just tackle it....what could happen! I have a half brother from my father remarring, but we did not have much time together to get to know each other.

Ok, here on WiKiTree, I am interested in exploring, connecting, learning who my family were, and contributing to wikitree on the many branches, not just the direct Kennedy family line. I have learned that I have Crawfords, Sawyers, West, Campbell, Freeman, Dixon or Dickson, Bell, Lessley or Lesslie, Todd, Sanders, Queener, Rackler, Gilley, Johnson and so many other surnames that I had no idea I had. I really never knew! So, with that I am looking into my family lines thru wikitree and family searches trying to piece it together. I have met many people, cousins, and others on this adventure and many other family in one way or another, or just fellow researchers, looking into families. I love the sharing of knowledge... It truely has been an amazing adventure hunting my family down. I only thought I was a Kennedy and Pittrof thru my parents. I was so naive, its just funny now.

I am the only daughter of Bill Kennedy, who is the son of Oscar D. Kennedy, the son of Albert B. Kennedy, the son of Henry B. Kennedy, the son of Thomas J. Kennedy, the son of Gilbert kennedy II, the son of Gilbert kennedy, and the son of Felix kennedy, and so forth....

The Million dollar question is who, when, and where did Felix Kennedy's father John, or is it John, came from and is he the patriarchy of the family that came to America? or is it someone else??

So here I am working on "Our family" line the Many i explained in the prior paragraph.."Crawford, Stewart, Williams, Campbell, Bell, West's, Sawyers, Rackley, Freeman, Gilley, Johnson's, Lesslie's, and so many many other names". I would greatly appreciate your help, patient with me while I am making mistakes and trying to correct them, and if you have some instruction for me to learn how to do it better, I appreciate the time and sources you provide.

So again, I ask that you be patient with me as I learn how to navigate and not making many mistakes, on profiles I manage.

Thank you in advance and sorry, if i have already caused some confusion. :)

Theresia A. Kennedy

Sources

• I have First-hand knowledge, research, help from other Genealogist, Cousins, and word of mouth about ancestors that I have listed in my tree.