ROOTS & BRANCHES

There are lot of things people don’t tell you when you begin doing your genealogy at age 24.

They don’t tell you—although you soon find out—that you’ll likely be the youngest in the room (Maybe even for decades … in my case it was until I was in the presence of either Jeremy Lutz or Justin Houser).

They don’t tell you that despite your original goal of tracing each of your own lines to an immigrant, you might write four commercially published books on genealogy topics.

Or serve as an executive director of a statewide society in the genealogy community.

Or speak all across the country, especially in German genealogy.

And they don’t tell you about profound the sense of loss is when you lose a longtime friend in the genealogy community.

But that’s the feeling I had late last month when I heard of the unexpected death of Roland Paul, retired director of the world-renown Instituts für pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde (in English, the “Institute of Palatine History and Folklore”) n Kaiserslautern.

For a generation Paul was a friendly face to those with German ancestry, both at the institute as well as being a frequent lecturer to American genealogy groups.

He also wrote books, including the Pfälzer in Amerika/Palatines in America, subtitled “Writings on the Migration History of the Palatinate,” which included letters from those who left Germany for America, which are great primary sources about these families.

Among the prize jewels of the collections at the institute is a card file with thousands of names of emigrants to America (a version of this card file is also available at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center on the campus of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania).

I had heard Paul speak during a few conferences some years ago, but the meeting I will remember forever in early September 2022, when I had decided at the last minute to travel to Germany to visit several ancestral hometowns as well as attend a genealogy conference. Paul and I met up as we were both arriving at the conference and it took us both a moment to remember each other.

Once that happened, we talked and had drinks together during the weekend, and I found out he was actually born in Steinwenden, one of those ancestral hometowns I had visited.

I’m sorry we won’t be able to continue the conversations we started.

A profound loss, indeed.

***

Last week was the 1,300^th “Roots & Branches” column stretching back a quarter century to its debut in 1998. Happy milestone and thanks for all you readers!

As it happens, this fell on the day after my 63^rd birthday, so I’ve been writing these weekly installments for just about two fifths of my life!