My German Family Story
Ulm is in Baden Württemberg which is where my Vater (Father) was born. My Vater was born Johann Kirchner & adopted by the Bean's from Townsend, Tennessee. Allen Bean was a soldier in the U.S. Army stationed in Germany. That is where Allen & Irene Bean adopted my Vater from. After being adopted my Vater became Harvey Bean. My Großvater (Grandfather) Georg Kirchner was a soldier in the German Army during Adolf Hitler's reign. My Großvater was born in Orfalu Hungary & my Oma (Grandmother) Margarete Weiss was born in Austria. George & Margarete had 3 children Georg Jr, my Vater Johann Kirchner, & Erica Kirchner. My Oma disappeared with Georg Jr from what I understand but her and Georg's whereabouts or what happened to them are really still unknown. After Margarete & George Jr disappeared, my Großvater remarried and they had a child, Heinrich Kirchner who goes by Hank Kirchner. And my Großvater & his new wife & Heinrich migrated to Canada where my Großvater became a Tobacco Farmer. My Vater was adopted before he learned to speak Deutsch & he has no recollection of his life as a child in Deutschland. He had no knowledge that he had siblings. I am (Harvey) Johann's child & I am 35 years old. Over the years I decided to search for my Vater's family which led me to no where but one day I found an adoption website which was a site for people who have been adopted to find their birth family. So I put my Vater's information on that website & after all those years of searching & wanting to give up hope in 2013 I finally got an e-mail. The e-mail was from a woman named Paula who claimed to be my cousin. Turns out she was my cousin. Her Mutter (mother) was my Vater's (father's) sister. So I found out my Vater had a sister who was 1 year older than him. And she is married with a son & daughter so I had 2 cousins. The next day I received another e-mail this time this was from a woman named Marcia (Marcie). She said my Vater had a half brother named Hank (Heinrich). Marcie was my Aunt by marriage. She told me she was Hank's 2nd wife & that Hank had 4 children. I was so excited more cousins for me. Hank (Heinrich) married Debbie and had 4 children; Will, Sandy, Sherry & Mike. Will has 2 kids, a boy & girl. Sandy has 2 kids, Cayla & Mitchell. Sherry has 2 kids, Cordel & Jadeith. Mike is married & has no kids yet just fur babies. Hank & Debbie divorced & he remarried Marcia(Marcie), they have no children. Erica & her family live in Ontario on the East side of Canada. Hank & his family live in British Columbia, the West side of Canada. To this day I still have not found any information on my Oma Kirchner or my Uncle Georg Kirchner Jr but I don't give up hope in finding them or finding out what happened to them. I am close to my Uncle Hank's side of the family not so close to my Aunt Erica's side though. So in 2013 since I found my Vater's family we all made plans to meet. My Uncle Hank & Marcie flew down from British Columbia to Virginia & my Aunt Erica & her husband Paul drove down from Ontario to where we live & we all met. They stayed for almost a week. We all went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse & I showed them the sights & we all spent time together talking & making memories. My family history research like I said before is still not complete as I am still trying to gather information on my Vater's family & find out information on where my Oma & Uncle Georg are or where they went.
