My parents and I spend the day at Ellis Island. It is an amazing place. It reminds of the refugee problem around the world caused by political unrest and natural disaster. Both sides of my family came to the United States prior to the Civil War. My father's side is German Jew and Mother's side is German Baptist. My mother's grandfather was an artist who became a minister. My father's side had tobacco plantations in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Florida. Connie's family came over with the Mayflower and the Quakers. She had a relative, Benjamin Church who cut off King Philip's head during the French & Indian Wars and marched around Tiverton, RI with the head on the end of a pole.