The Group W Bench

The family story I heard was that the first of my paternal line in America was my father’s father, who left Europe to avoid being drafted into the Tsar’s army.   Recently I was doing some online research with old newspapers, and found my great-grandfather’s obituary.  And it confirms the basic story, though I think it must have been “Kaiser’s army,” because it looks like great-grandfather Frank left German territory,  not Russian.  (This makes sense, as my paternal grandparents spoke German at home.)

I’m delighted to note that the family legend appears to be true:  the first of my Kuzenski ancestors to arrive in America really WAS a draft dodger.   Great-grandson Ken is mighty proud.   🙂