Hintersteinau, Fulda and the Hess Family

I grew up feeling very close to my paternal grandparents, particularly my grandmother, Carrie Hess Dreifuss. Even though we saw them one or two weeks a year because my parents moved away from Brooklyn, NY to Washington, DC before I was born. Yet my grandma Dreifuss had those qualities that endeared her to all who knew her. Years after her death in 1963 ( I was just 13), my father wrote a short tribute to her life, which is also published on this website.

After studying her genealogy as an adult I became quite interested in learning about her and her family's life in Germany before immigrating to the U.S. in 1906. I knew she was born in 1884 in a small village in Hessen, Germay Hintersteinau before moving to the city of Fulda, west of Hintersteinau also in the German State of Hesse (known as Hessen in Germany).

But it wasn't until September 2023 that I made the trip. I believe it was the best and most interesting trip I have made anywhere in the world. Certainly it was the most valuable as a genealogist and familty historian. Below I give a brief summary of those two weeks in Germany in 2023 and some of the conclusions we made.

Part I. Title to Come

Original planning happened 2018 and earler when Shelley and I discussed another family roots trip to Germany. We had done an earlier trip in 1999 with just our daughters who were still living with us. We de acided to discuss it with Jeff and Sue at a family Bar Mitzvah, when word got out and wider interest developed. In particular, my cousin Suzanne (Schechter) volunteered to help in the planning. Suzanne and I identified a guide, planner , translator and transportation expert within germany, Ute Melhorn of the German American Connection.

This is a work on progress