Heyn, Gary: Standing at the Grave: A Family's journey from the Grand Duchy of Posen to the Prairies of North Dakota

Weeks before the birth of Queen Victoria, Anna Christina Schmidt was born to a German settler on the estate of a Polish noble. Unlike the Queen, the only remaining visible proof of her life is a depression in the grass behind a moss covered tombstone. Standing at the Grave is the true story of one of the thousands of forgotten mothers who stood at their doors, watching their children leave for America, never expecting to see them again. This is also the journey of her children from the plains of Wielkopolska, Poland, to the prairies of North Dakota.

"For anyone wondering how to tell the story of your immigrant family, this family memoir shows you not only how, but also convinces you of the importance of telling that story," Barbara Pieh, President, German Genealogical Society.

Gary Heyn is a former Corporate Executive who has refocused his research and analytic skills to genealogy, history, and writing with an emphasis on the former residents of the Grand Duchy of Posen. After two trips to the region, he was excited to find a wealth of documentation available and frustrated that the history of this province, the former home to many German immigrants in the Upper Midwest, was so poorly documented. It has become his mission to bring these people's stories back to life.