My Family History

I interviewed my grandparents on my mom's side to learn more about the origins of my family. What I discovered is that I am a 3rd generation American and my great grandparents came to America from Poland and other eastern European countries. My mom's maiden name was Becker, which was changed from its original Germanic spelling of Bechurmann. My great-grandpa changed it to Becker when he went into business in New York after he came to America from Poland. He then married and settled down in Chicago because he had relatives already living here. This is on my grandpa's side, on my grandma's side, my great-grandpa came to America through Ellis island from Jasniowiecki, Poland. They left because of the Pograms which were organized massacres of Jewish people in eastern Europe. Therefore my great-grandparents made the journey to America and finally landed in Detroit, Michigan.

This brings us to my grandparents. My grandpa was born in Chicago and my grandma was born in Detroit. After my grandma graduated from University of Michigan at age 20, she came to Chicago and left all of her family behind and then she met my grandpa. They moved to Skokie and had 4 kids. They had 1 boy (my uncle), and 3 girls (my two aunts and my mom). My mom met my dad in 1999 and then got married in 2001. My mom changed her name from Becker to Pekar, which coincidentally both mean baker in German and Slovak respectively. They then had 3 kids, myself and my two sisters and we live in Wilmette, which is where our family has lived for 16 years.