In the mid-1980s, likely for a school project, I interviewed my grandmother Roma Rasa Siegel about our family history while my mom and I took notes.  I feel very blessed to have those notes and I look back on them once in a while.  They contain errors, but “warts and all” remain a prized possession.  Roma was considered a local historian in the town of Florence where she was born and raised.  In 1901, her father Fred Rasa bought the finest house in town – the local potter’s two-story brick house which sat (with sheds and barns used in the Hummel Pottery business) on Main Street in the small town in Morgan County, Missouri. 

Roma, who died in 1988, wrote several chapters of Florence’s history for the newspaper as well as county and town commemorative books.  Her stories detailed the early days of Florence, the history of the Hummel Pottery business, and her personal experience as owner/operator (with her husband Carl) of a general store.

What I never could have imagined was that nearly forty years after her death I would discover something that defies description.  A gem in the archives!  It is difficult to put into words without an infinite number of superlatives to express the emotions surrounding it! So here is the long version:

The State Historical Society of Missouri opened the doors of the Center for Missouri Studies in 2019, but I had yet to visit.  When I learned the 2024 Missouri State Genealogical Association (MoSGA) conference would be held there, I began researching details of in-house collections.  I was surprised to find my grandmother’s name in the finding aid for the Adolf E. and Rebecca B. Schroeder Collection.[1]  In 1979, Roma had been interviewed by Adolf Schroeder, a professor at the University of Missouri, who specialized in German immigrants and their culture in Missouri.  I made note of the folder containing his notes from that day and put it on my list.  It wasn’t until I was filling out the record request a few days prior to the conference, that I realized it wasn’t one item, it was two: the interviewer’s notes and an audio cassette.  I tried to stay calm given the uncertainty of the quality and even the existence of a forty-five-year-old cassette tape. But the thought had me giddy with anticipation!

When I arrived at the Center, the staff had the items ready for me.  I explained that my mother would be arriving around lunchtime and I wanted to wait for her.  When mom arrived, we went upstairs to the research center.  The audio equipment in the sound room was being a little stubborn so we had to listen to the tape through headphones.  Mom suggested I go first.  There was more than one interview on each cassette so I needed to find Roma.  I began listening to the interviewer and a male interviewee.  Almost overlaid was a female voice which sounded nothing like my grandmother; it was, for the lack of a better descriptive – tinny – high pitched and well, odd.  I listened through the entire B-side of the tape.  Was it Roma?  I soon decided it was her when she gave her father’s name and date of death.  Only a genealogist would recognize an ancestor by this method!

Mom listened to the tape as well and neither of us though the voice sounded like the one we remembered but when the staff offered to digitize the audio, we jumped at the chance.  When I received the file a few weeks later, I was apprehensive. What would it sound like?  Did I know anyone who could improve the quality? I finally hit play.  The interviewer asked the person to state her name and for the first time in thirty-six years I heard my grandmother speak.  For 14 minutes and 26 seconds I sat mesmerized and overcome with emotion.  When the interviewer asked her to read a document she had shown him, I received the greatest gift a genealogist can get – Roma reading her family history, from words she had written.

The moral of this story is that no matter how slim the chance, never give up.  Sometimes our ancestors surprise us and show up in the least expected places.  Look far and wide, and never cease to hope and search! In 2025 I will be sharing new ideas for researching your ancestors with new sources and methods to discover the details of your ancestors’ lives.  Join me on this journey of discovery and let me know about your successes.

Happy 2025 and may your search bring you riches you cannot imagine.

Michelle

[1] Adolf E. and Rebecca B. Schroeder Collection, C4483, The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection.