I’ve recently been in contact with a cousin of my father’s, who is also interested in genealogy and still lives in my dad’s hometown. He is older than my dad and has more first-hand accounts of my Oma’s generation.

His recent email included an interesting little story – my Oma’s father (my great-grandfather) Valentin Stossier had 12 unmarried children.  TWELVE.  His wife, being a good-natured and social woman, sent the single mothers care packages of food and clothing each month.  According to my father, adultery in rural Austria was somewhat common back then.  But, TWELVE unmarried children is a little over-the-top.

My Oma had TWELVE half-siblings. To think of all the things I would have never known, had I not become interested in genealogy…