#107 A VISIT TO ST. JACOB'S CEMETERY

                                            CONNECTING SEVEN GENERATIONS

                                (and yes, Sophia is taller than me...for that, she owed me a lunch.)

On a road trip a couple of weeks ago with my daughter and granddaughters, we stopped at the St.James Lutheran Cemetery in St. Jacob's. Buried there are Jacob and Phoebe Werth, my great-great, Jess' 3 times great, and the girls' 4 times great grandparents. Standing beside a gravestone of direct ancestors who were born over two centuries ago can evoke a range of emotions and questions-- awe at how far back our lineage stretches: curiosity about our ancestors' stories: respect seeing that names haven't been lost: melancholy thinking about the passage of time or imagining these ancestors' lives.

I also realize how baffling and difficult for Sophia and Ellie to identify with such long ago ancestors. Here is the connection. 

                                                           

                                                            my great-great grandparents  

                                   Jacob Werth (1812-1890) & Philippina (Phoebe) Schmitt (1829-1916)                                         

                                                                                 🠋

                                                                   

                                                                    my great-grandfather

                                                            Edward Albert Werth (1860-1932)

                                                                                  🠋

                                                       

                                                                     my grandmother

                                                            Jean Oliver Werth (1892-1959)

                                                                                  🠋

                                                                         

                                                                            my dad

                                                         Carol Edwin Homuth (1924-2017)       

                                                                                    🠋

                                                                            

                                                                                🠋

                                                                     

                                                                    my daughter, Jessica  

        

                                                                                 🠋

                                                   my 2 oldest grandchildren, Ellie & Sophia

A letter that Phobe and Jacob might now write to Sophia and Ellie.

To Sophia & Ellie, our dearest Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughters

If you are reading this, standing where we were laid to rest here in the St.Jacob’s Cemetery, then something beautiful has happened; the past and the future have met in the quiet hush of the present. We never dreamed that our names would still be spoken aloud, nor that your young hearts would one day come to visit us.

We came to this land, Canada, long ago from Germany. The journey was long and uncertain, the days ahead unknown. We left behind familiar soil, beloved kin, a language and customs that we understood. But we carried with us hope—that life here, in this new and untamed place, would prosper not just us, but those who follow.

Now to see that you have come—that you stand beside the very stone that carry our names—fills us with unspeakable joy.

We wonder what the world is like for you. Do your lives feel free? What have you built, dreamed , or dared that we could never have imagined? Have you read books under electric lights, flown above the clouds, spoken to family across the miles in just seconds? Yours must be an era of wonder, full of movement. What we could only dream of, you may hold in your hands.

We made mistakes…but every choice we made, every hardship we bore, led—unseen—to this:you.

Know that you are the unanswered prayer of those who came before. Your visit here is no small thing. It is a thread, pulled gently, but deliberately through time. You are carrying us forward in your memory, in your blood. May you always know that the roots beneath your feet were laid in love, faith, and courage.

We hope you dream boldly. We hope you live gently. Know that we are proud of you—not for what you have or will achieve, but simply because you are. Our greatest legacy isn’t land or letters or wealth, but the love that echoes through you. So stand tall. Love well and keep going forward knowing your roots reach back through the centuries, still growing strong.

                                        Forever proud of you…Love...Jacob and Phoebe

(The first draft of Jacob & Phobe's letter was done using AI...something unimaginable in their time! Now it is a tool unquestioned by their 4X great grandchildren.)