Explore your Ancestral Homeland

Jesse Liere

For decades, Jesse Liere’s family puzzled over a lifelong mystery: why did his great-great-grandparents leave Germany for America? “My life goal was to get the money together and do the ‘deep dive,’” Liere said. So he hired AncestryProGenealogists® researchers to find answers—and they did. Then, he dreamed of visiting Germany himself.

Liere scheduled an ancestral home visit, led by AncestryProGenealogists® researcher Ursula Krause. She took him directly to the towns of Gehrde and Badbergen, where he saw the churches and farms of his family’s past. Liere was so entranced, he nearly forgot to take pictures.

"It's like stepping back in time. You just get that feel in that moment of being where your ancestors once stood, and that was just amazing,” Liere said.

He saw a model of the small home his ancestors lived in—with their livestock—and learned about their farming methods, the tools they used, and even the wooden shoes they wore.

He pondered the hopeless economic situation his ancestors faced, which prompted them to leave for America in 1882. He was overwhelmed when he toured the ancient churches in which they worshiped and saw the 13th-century baptismal font at which many generations of his relatives were likely baptized. Krause even showed him the handwritten record of his great-great-grandparents’ marriage in a musty but well-kept church book. Later, he visited the dock where they boarded a ship and bid their native Germany farewell.

Liere said he never would have attempted the trip on his own. He depended on Krause’s knowledge of the area, contacts in the towns, and fluency in the language. "If you don't speak German, you're not going to get anywhere, especially if you're a foreigner," he said.

Back in California, Jesse shared photos and videos of the places he visited with his family. For all of them, the experience was priceless. “I am beyond pleased with how the tour went for me,” he said. “My number one bucket list item of all time has been completed.”

Joyce Gabriel

When my partner and I saw the opportunity to take an ancestry tour of Southern Italy we jumped at the chance. I’d already created an Ancestry.com tree, taken the AncestryDNA® test, and performed some preliminary research on my own based on family stories and I had a rough idea about where I wanted to visit.

A more detailed plan came together after a phone consultation with an expert from AncestryProGenealogists® who provided some surprising information about both my maternal and paternal family histories. We also discussed adding a personalized ancestral home visit with a local expert as well as a little more in-depth research to make sure we made the most of our trip.

Our personalized ancestral home visit more than exceeded my expectations. We had a car, driver, and personal genealogist for the day. We had pre-arranged visits to three of my four ancestors’ towns, since they were all in close proximity. Prior to our visit, Joe, our genealogist guide, had contacted the priest of the church where my maternal grandmother had been baptized and when we arrived the priest had copied her baptismal record for me. As if this wasn’t already incredibly moving, my partner proposed to me right there in the church! And our day had just begun.

We walked through the town (Larino), past the street where she was born and raised and then went on to visit two more ancestral towns (Campolieto and Campobasso), walking through the streets and ancient cemeteries looking for familiar surnames. Joe had also contacted a priest in Campobasso but the church was closed for the afternoon and it opened too late for us to wait. We did, however, discover (after asking locals, going to town hall, and driving through the town) that the street my grandfather had lived on had been renovated and all the houses replaced to accommodate the new railroad system. Joe went above and beyond to get answers, never accepting just the first responses if they weren’t what he felt were correct.

The day far exceeded our expectations and we looked forward to the following day when we began our 10 day tour, joining our tour group.

It was an “once-in-a-lifetime” experience not to be forgotten.

Jean Swanson

Growing up, Jean Swanson always wondered why her father never talked about his home country. He had immigrated to the United States from Sicily when he was 9 years old. He said the conditions there had been terrible, but he didn’t want to talk about Sicily, and he never did, at least not to her.

Jean took up genealogy and tried to learn more about her family’s past, but she got hung up on the language barrier and her own lack of knowledge about her family’s origins. It seemed as if her questions would go unanswered. Jean had hit genealogical gridlock, and she might have stayed there if she hadn’t won a tour of Sicily with Ancestry® and Go Ahead Tours. The adventure that awaited her in Sicily was more than she could have imagined. “I don't think we could have had the same experience doing it any other way,” Jean said.

To say that Jean learned more about her family heritage would be an understatement. Ancestry® connected her with a team of Italian researchers, who taught her how to overcome hurdles in her research, uncovered the story of her grandmother’s abandonment at a Sicilian orphanage as a newborn baby, took her to her father’s hometown of Riesi, and answered myriad other questions.

Jean was taken to a sulphur mine in Riesi, where her grandfather, great-grandfather, and several other ancestors had worked. The mine is now a museum that shows the severe hardship and abuse 19th century workers endured. Through a simulation, she experienced what it was like for her ancestors to descend into the claustrophobic darkness of a mine shaft. She saw photographs of the workers—some as young as 6 years old—and heard heartbreaking stories about the pain Riesi’s mining families endured. From there, Jean was taken to the street where her father was born.

“I was imaging myself as a young child, playing in the streets, having friends, knowing that I was walking in his footsteps as a young child,” Jean said. “I was filled with all kinds of emotion—I was excited about it; I was very sad at the life they lived. I was trying to imagine my family there, and what their life would have been.”

Of course, not all parts of the tour had such a somber tone. With her husband, Ed Swanson, Jean visited the cities of Palermo, Agrigento, Noto, Syracuse, Taormina, and more. She met cousins who shared fascinating family lore, explored Greek ruins, and learned to make arancini, all the while soaking in the island’s beautiful scenery. “The people were so warm,” she said. “The food was magnificent; our group was really small. We became a cozy bunch, and it was really fun.”

Now, Jean has a new perspective on her family’s place in the world. “Look at where we all are just two generations from that,” she said. “They left their homes, their families, everything they knew to make a better life for themselves and their family. That really is the American dream, and it really happened. That's what I came away with. I kept thinking, ‘Wow, two generations ago our family was down in the mines.’ I am grateful for them leaving and everything they went through, so we could have the life we have.”