Paul Douglas Stamm

The Stamm / Stam Families of Wisconsin Paul Douglas Stamm

"Zwei Dinge sollen Kinder von ihren Eltern bekommen: Wurzlen and Flügel." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was correct that the most important gifts a parent can give a child is roots and wings. Ultimately that is what genealogy is really all about. The story of our ancestors is both our history and our future. When we study our family history we learn about our own values and attitudes. The births and beginnings, the marriages and miscarriages, the funerals and fates of our ancestors describe how we came to be. Each of us wants to think we are unique and independent, but the reality is that we are seedlings grown from our common family grounds. And the story is much larger than "Me and Mine."As we learn about others' histories, we come to the understanding that we are all one people. This work started as an exploration of a single family and grew into, I hope, a composite of every Stamm who ever lived in the state of Wisconsin. And the more that it grew, the more I realized it needed to grow ever larger. My great aunt was born as a Stamm, and although she married and took on another last name, her children's heritage is every bit as connected to the Stamm family as that of my sons who still have the last name. As soon as he was able to travel alone, Wilhelm went by wagon and Thomas tramped on a train, and both of them moved further on west, but they are every bit as connected to the Badger State as my Wisconsin Rapids, Vikings-fan nephew or my Kenosha Cubs cousin. The value of my insane collecting of historic records dealing the "Stamms," or "Stams" or "Stimms," or "Stems" from Wisconsin, or Illinois, or Pennsylvania, or Bavaria has almost nothing to do with a particular surname or any geographic location. The geography and the name are not the important constructs. The important idea is that every human is ultimately connected to all those currently among us and all of those who have gone before. Oft sind wir zu klein um zu verstehen, dass wir alle eine Familie sind.