The Engel
Family Tree
A living record of one family — written by the family itself, one memory at a time.
It began as Fred's Gift, a researched family history bound in 2014. Today it keeps growing: relatives add memories, photos, and documents, and the story stays current — with every line traced back to someone who remembers.
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- Hugo arrives from Berlin
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- generations, Hugo to today
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- American hometowns
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- children of Bob & Ann
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- grandchildren
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- great-grandchildren, as of 2014
How it works
The family writes this story
No forms to fill out, no pages to edit. Share what you remember, however it comes to you — the site does the careful work of weaving it into the story.
01
Share it your way
Type a memory in your own words, upload a photo or document, or react to a paragraph in the story — “I remember this too,” “there's more to it,” or a gentle correction. From last summer or from 1952.
02
Answer a question or two
A friendly helper may follow up at your pace — do you remember the year? Who else was there? Nothing is ever invented; what you say is what gets kept.
03
It joins the story
Your memory is woven into the family story with a citation back to you. When two relatives remember the same thing, it stands on firmer ground — and the story stays the most current telling.
Contribution is open to family by invitation. Family member? Ask to join →
Fred's Gift
The gift that started it all
In 2014, Fred bound twenty years of research into a spiral-bound report for his parents — census clippings, city directories, gravestone rubbings, photographs. It is preserved here exactly as it was given, and it is the inspiration for this whole site.