Found Relative

As part of the Heuer research project, we made three trips to Poland to both get a sense of what the area was like and to determine if there were any sources locally that would be of value in our research. What a surprise we had, it was almost as though the good Lord was guiding us along.  Our first experience occurred in Mecklenburg in the small village of Vielist.  After arriving in Berlin, we (my sister Suzanne and my mother) headed north east from Berlin to visit the Vielist area.

My mother's great grandmother immigrated from Vielist to America and although a little out of the way, we decided to stop here to see the area.  My sister spoke a bit of German and as we were passing through this small village, a young man was walking alongside the road.  We stopped and asked the young man if he knew of any family in the area by the name of Tessnow.  His response was, Tessnow?  We said again, yes, Tessnow.  He responded that his name was Tessnow!  What intervention was that.  He took us to his home and we were able to visit with his mother who was not a born Tessnow and the father was a truck driver on the road at the time.  We were able to ascertain that more than likely, this Tessnow family was related to my gggrandmother on my mothers side of the family.

From there it was on to Greifenberg across the border into Poland.  Our plan was quite simple.  Visit the churches where the records came from and at the same time learn what ever we could learn. We made some friends in the village of Karnitz and the following day we went to Woldarka which used to be named Voightshagen.  Once we arrived at the church I was video taping my mother who was explaining what significance this particular church was in relation to my great grandfather.  While we were busy doing that, my sister went around the back of the church and was looking around.  What she found is described on the following page - found relative