Never would I have imagined how the quest for my ancestors would fascinate me over the course of time.

It all started when my aunt handed over an old Lippe farmyard history of the families LUCHTE and ALTROGGE.

I was instantly fascinated by the partly unknown names and places, family bounds and the numerous children.

To date I only knew the birth places of my grandparents and just a few names sounded familiar to me.

The farmyard history reached far back and I thought my quest to come to an end soon. When feeding the data

into a genealogy program I came to realize that there were gaps and mistakes. My hunting instinct was aroused!

By this time I started to discover all sorts of sources. Alas it was to late to ask my grandparents who had passed

away and with them, like with every generation, some knowledge was ultimately lost.

Therefore I began to rummage drawers and desks for old documents like adress books, certificates, letters,

photographs, advertisements or maps. Each new trove was precious and led me a little bit further on my path,

while also prompting new questions.

By this time I slowly understood that there is no specific GOAL to pursue, but rather a PATH to explore, when

undertaking a venture into the past. The END will ultimately be unknown to us.

Today I am no longer annoyed by this fact.

The internet catalyzed my research efforts, yet having contact with like-minded people in forums and groups

was what became most important. I was able to profit from their earlier experience and knowledge. It is hard

to believe what tremendous databases complete with sources some individuals have managed to set up.

There were and are however points in the family history when further progress seems impossible. These were the

situations to start with something else and taking a look at the Pomeranian line was suggesting itself.

Anything beyond the generation of my grandparents was a mystery to me, which is odd as they are geographically

in close proximity, therefore my “nearest” ancestors. I did not want to forfeit the chance to pose questions and so

my mother and her sister had to stress their long term memory – what they patiently did.

The only written starting points were a “proof of descent" and an interesting and detailed letter written by a deceased

great aunt. Again the allocation and input of individual fragments from the letter into my program began.

Not every detail did fit and so began the search for sources to assemble correct data sets.

For a long time I could not go on for there was one mysterious location: Vorwerk, district of Greifswald.

But I was lucky, the “knowledge” of the internet evolved and my persistent quest was finally succesful.

Solution: Lassan-Vorwerk, district of Greifswald.

Now I was able to get a great deal onward with this family branch by consulting the Lassan family register. But, how else

could it be, again I was surprised. I found clues that led me to the district of Cammin in former Farther Pomerania,

now Poland. This did not simplify things, for through war, flight and forced displacement manychurch books were

destroyed or lost.

With the association for family and local historical research “Pommerscher Greif e.V.” (“Pomeranian Griffin”) I found

the right counterparts, possessing incredible knowledge and being well interconnected. The collaboration with this

association has become very rewarding to me.

What I need now are time, patience and luck.