Marvin was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1932. He attended grammar and high school in Chicago.
In the 1920s and ’30s, his father had a business of moving and residential ice and coal delivery. He has his last ice card, which you would place in your window, showing how much ice you wanted that day.
After high school, he spent three years in the army, two of them in German, during the Korean Conflict. Shortly after separation from the army, he went to work for a commercial flooring contractor in Chicago, retiring from that firm 44 years later.
He has two daughters and two grandsons who live in the Chicago area.
About forty years ago that he decided to research his father’s family. His father’s parents were born in Germany. Little did he know what he was getting into. His search has led to many successes and brick walls. During a visit with a cousin in Florida, he learned that his father was one of ten children. The best part of the visit was when he was shown a photo of his grandfather and all the children with their names and date of birth.
His genealogy book now has 600 pages and around three hundred names. He did much of his research at the Newberry Library in Chicago and others in the Chicago area.
After moving to Arizona in 2002, he continued the search. It was great when he learned about the WVGS and even better after he joined. The access to Ancestry and the help of the people there made things a lot easier.
The book Otto requested was “Germans to America: Vol. 24, 1870.” This will add to the other six volumes of that Series. It contains the names of his great-grandparents and two great-uncles that arrived here in May of 1870, seven years after his grandfather came. He wishes to thank the WVGS members for this.