The History Of My Great-Grandfather

Left to Right: Wife Elli née Steinhagen,
Daughter Inge Ortmann, William Worthey

Finding something out about your ancestors is something very special. You do not just get to know your family better, you also get an insight into history. You get to know how your family or one person of it lived ages ago, during a different time under different circumstances.

In my case, I got to know the life of my great grandfather William Worthey, the father of my grandmother Inge Marianne Ortmann née Worthey. I have not really heard much about my grandparent

´s life and certainly not about their parent´s life. Reading this blog, you will also get to know why no one ever really liked to talk about this history.

It was actually the first time I heard the story of this man. Before I only knew his name and was surprised that it sounded to special (for me as a German). His name is William Worthey. He got the English surname from his father who bearded the exact same name. He came from England to Germany, but the circumstances or reasons are unclear. Having this English ancestry was always something special for me.

Job References

My grandmother´s father was born on June 7th, 1907 in Gröditzberg in Schlesia. His parents were Helene née Krömer and his father William Worthey, a stable master.

Between many old documents and pictures that we had at home, I was able to find a self-written resume. Using this, I was able to get to know that William Worthey confirmed to the evangelical church in 1912 and worked on his father´s farm until he was seventeen. After that, he started an apprenticeship as a carpenter.

Looking at the old-German job references, I got to find out that he worked for different people in this field until 1934. He was always considered “extremely reliable and neat” and always got positive recommendations. 

My grandpa also said: “You can see how careful he was in his work as well. While he was in Rostock- he should have moved there in 1934- he also tinkered for the family. We still have the sewing table and the tea table from him.” - Something I did not know before either.

Sewing Table

Tea Table

The only thing I knew about my great-grandfather before my research was the following: that he fought in the war. I knew he died toward the ending which is very sad. I knew that he got shot and died due to his wounds.

Military Pass

Taking a closer look at his military pass I found out that he got shot in his belly and leg on November 11^th 1943. After that, he got transported in an open freight wagon, as my grandmother told me, all the way to Austria, Lintz. This is also where he died of pneumonia and a lung abscess on February 13th 1944 at the age of 36 years. 

My grandparents also described the transport as something unimaginable, that they would get carried wounded in a carriage for such a long time. “And there is nothing written about what they thought and what they felt,” as my grandmother said, “Nobody wanted to talk about this cruel time."

Ancestor Pass

My great-grandfather was drafted into the army on Mai 11^th 1939, around the time when World War 2 began. Words fail me when I have to imagine what that must have felt like. We learned in school how this time has been but hearing that someone from your family had to go to war makes everything more real and brings up all the bad things from that time again.

In 1933 Hitler came to power and the time of Nazi-Germany and the persecution of Jews began. We even found an ancestor passport which was used at weddings to make sure that you only have German blood. I can not even imagine how it must have been to live in this time.

Military Route

My great-grandfather even fought in the war for three years and got sent all over Europe doing so. I visualized his route using his military letter where all his missions are listed. It is surprising to see how far he must have had to go. Not even my grandparents ever really looked at this.

Himmelsbrief-Letter of Heaven

In the old box with all the pictures, I also found multiple “letters of heaven”. These are letters that the soldiers carried with them close to their heart and my great-grandfather did so as well. They were something spiritual to help them get through these hard times. “They got passed on. That´s why the name on the bottom isn´t the one from your grandfather,” my grandfather explained to me. I only know this from movies but now seeing something like this in real life is impressive and shocking at the same time.

Overall, the history of these times is not the easiest and happiest. That is why digging up these stories was also combined with a more melancholic emotion. It is not something that is easy to take up. “These were no cozy stories that were told to your children. We were not told them and neither was your mother,” my grandmother told me. “I did not have a happy grandmother; that extends into your generation, such a war.”

Obituary 

When I asked my grandmother what kind of a person my great-grandfather was, she explained that she was too little when she saw him the last time to remember something real. She only had the pictures and together with the obituary she found when she was older to make up only an ideal of her father. But reading the obituary written by my grandfather´s wife, he must have been a very kind-hearted, lovable, devoted and always caring man.

Old Pictures

Now he is buried on the graveyard of the Evangelical- Lutheran Parish St. Nikolai church in Dreveskirchen. Here, he shares a grave with his wife Elli Anna Herta Luise nee Steinhagen. Their gravestone originally was a Die on Base headstone, but it got unstable, so my grandfather needed to take the top part off and lay it down. The grandparents from my grandmother's side are also buried here (my great-great-grandparents).

Till this day, my grandmother and her husband take care of these graves. My family and I accompany them from time to time as well to help them out a little. It always is something special to go there and now I have even more respect and understanding of the importance of this holy place.

Left: Grave of my Great-Great-Grandparents
Right: Grave of my Great-Grandparents

Overall, for this research, I only spoke to my family and especially to my grandparents since there were no other usable sources. But this was not a problem since we had most, if not all of the documents at our home.