Mia and John spent several years chasing Mia’s genealogy ‘bug’; writing to sources in English, German and French, traveling to Europe, researching in dark church basements and city archives, digging through microfiche, reviewing ship manifests, censuses, translating old German script, and visiting graveyards to locate, decipher, and assemble the pieces to a puzzle that was very near and dear to Mia’s heart.

It was Mia’s wish to present and distribute this book on a visit to Iowa in the fall of 2013. She talked about making that trip several times, but that was not in God’s plans. Mia’s wishes were that this not be published or copied to any public forum, but kept within the family.

We finished the last content edit a month before she died.