WHAT IF… We’ve all played the “what if” game, pondering our place in life (and perhaps life at all) if mom had a not met dad, if dad had taken a new job out of town, if you had stayed in the Army, if you hadn’t gone to college and so on.
The game has no end, no winner, no solution… but it can be fun. Most of life’s twists aren’t that at all; most are gentle turns, maybe even just a nudge; like meeting your wife at a dance that you didn’t want to be at.
But if you look back hard enough, you might find a giant twist of fate that had a huge impact on your life and that of your family.
The historical moment might not be Abraham Lincoln moving to Chicago to be a postman instead of moving to Springfield to be a lawyer. But it could be as momentous to you personally.
6 TWISTS OF FATE… Some years ago I think I found a series of fateful twists that had a huge impact on my family; all of which could be major chapters in the “what if” game.
Christian David Bayer was born October 3, 1877, in Germany. As the eldest son, there was friction with his father over his role as the heir apparent of the family farm. There is even a family story of some altercation with the son of another farmer over cows grazing in the grain fields.
At the first twist of fate, my Grandfather Bayer left Germany for England; probably to get away from his allegiance and agricultural duties to his father. He goes to London just after the turn of the century.
The second twist is he meets a young German girl, Anna Mueller, in a hospital there. They are both working off hospital bills as kitchen help. It could be his first experience as a butcher, a trade that he kept his entire life.
The third twist is the couple marries in 1904. They acquire a “pub” in the suburb of Shoreditch. One night a chimney leaks smoke into a nursery over the pub, suffocating the couple’s two baby children.
The fourth twist comes one night in 1914. Police and soldiers beat on the family’s front door. On answering, Christian is arrested as a Germany National. England has declared war on Germany. German men and boys of military age are quickly rounded up and sent off to a prison camp on the Isle of Man. Their families, including Christian’s wife and four children, are deported to Germany.
The fifth twist is after languishing five years in the POW camp, he promptly returns to Germany, reunites his family and begins plans to immigrate to America. In 1924, he arrives at Ellis Island with $50 dollars in his pocket and the address of his brother, Frederick, in Chicago.
The sixth twist is in 1927 he has saved enough money to send for his children, my father included, to come to America.
I’ve found the twists of fate that directed and drove my grandfather to be very interesting. Had he taken any other turn, it is very doubtful the Bayer clan would be more than 200 strong in America.
A SEVENTH TWIST… For millions of those Americans, that first step into America was onto the soil of Ellis Island, the official entry point to the new world in New York Harbor.
My daughter, Amy, and her daughter, Karlianne, on a trip to New York this past fall, took a tour of the island.
Knowing our family history, of my grandfather coming to America, they took particular interest in the “American Immigrant Wall of Honor.”
The Wall of Honor contains more than 700,000 names of the people who came to the United States through Ellis Island; it is the largest wall of names in the world, representing virtually every nationality.
The names come from descendants of those immigrants making a donation that helps with upkeep and renovation of the Island.
Karli and Amy studied the wall for some time, looking for a familiar Bayer name; though they found Johann and Frederick Bayer, there was no Christian David Bayer, my grandfather.
As a Christmas gift to the Bayer family, Amy made the donation to have Christian David Bayer’s name inscribed on the wall sometime this spring.
Little did Amy know she had a special connection to “Great-Grandpa Bayer.” As a newborn in 1970, she may have been the last great-grandchild he held? He died in February 1971.
Amy’s thoughtfulness is a gift to the entire Bayer family, as was Grandpa’s coming to America.
Karl’s Kolumn 3-20-08
