I first met Peter during my days as an art student in Boston. He was my teacher for a two week workshop held between semesters. We started dating a while after that, after graduation, fixed up then by our mutual friend, Jeannie.
It was some time later, when our marriage plans were afoot, that great-aunt, family historian, Hilda recognized the name Hoss from her work on our family tree and dug into her records. Sure enough, she found that we were related – my 1st cousin 3 times removed, and Peter's great-aunt had been husband and wife.
This fun fact came up again recently from an email, prompting me to take a closer look to better understand our connection. (Forgive the bullet points, 1st cousin 3 times removed can be difficult to visualize.) Here’s what I know.
Brothers Ulrich and John Ziegler immigrated from Switzerland in 1867 and settled in Malden.
Among their children, each had a son – cousins: Albert (my maternal great-grandfather) and Edwin.
In 1868, one year after the Ziegler brothers’ arrival, Johann Hoss immigrated from Germany and settled in Dorchester.
Among his children were Oscar (Peter’s grandfather) and Ernestina.
It was my Edwin Ziegler and Peter’s Ernestina Hoss who had married, connecting our families before we did.
The email prompting my family review was from pal Sharon, who had sent along this property map, found while delving into her own ancestry research.
I had previously discovered that Peter’s grandfather Oscar once owned a house on her street – a coincidence we both enjoyed at the time and had made note of. Her map confirmed what we knew – 15 Maple Street was indeed owned by O.H.E. & H.H. Hoss (Oscar Henry Emil Hoss & Hildegard Hanschumacher Hoss). The year was 1930.
She also sent this – a map of the same area, circa 1873.
57 years earlier, Oscar Hoss’s Maple Street property had been owned by E.H. Luke (Elijah Hedding Luke). My maiden name is Luke. Was this my ancestor? Could one of my paternal ancestors have sold this property to Peter’s grandfather?
The thought fascinated, but after a brief ancestry search I determined that Elijah’s family’s US arrival, predating that of my great-grandfather Bernard Luke by a generation, made the prospects unlikely, and sadly, I could find no mention of Elijah or his father James in my tree. Although it’s possible a connection existed years before in Germany, that research I’ll need to save for another day – my knitting calls.
But all was not lost. My search for Elijah produced unexpected discoveries. (There’s a lesson there.) Placing our trees side by side during my review had revealed that several members of both families had immigrated to the US within a short time of each other, arriving in the Boston area between 1865 and 1868.
With newfound perspective, I see now that my great-great grandparents, Johanna Stepat and Albert Stieg, who settled in Dorchester, likely walked the same streets at the same time as Peter’s great-grandfather Johann. And my great-grandfather Bernard may well have bumped into the Ziegler brothers going about their business in Malden. The truth is, Peter’s and my people have been swirling around each other for generations, proving, I suppose, that six degrees of separation easily applies both to current space and over time.
Pondering this, and tapping the eerie potential of past lives (queue the spooky music) – when I first met Peter in the classroom that day, maybe I should have asked him if I looked familiar.
And now, trying to remember, I wonder… did he?
Hello, it’s Me – my next knit design coming soon.
Update – Hello, it’s Me, published 7/12/2021