Glenn Pittsford lives in College Station, Texas with his wife Wanda. He is a retired charitable gift planner, having served people for 30 years through the Lutheran Foundation of Texas (now Legacy Deo) and the Texas A&M Foundation. He has a keen interest in people, families and history.
Glenn’s blogs will all be bits of information on his own family, all designed to get the reader to remember and record their own family history and details. Glenn has Wendish heritage on three sides of his grandparents. Pittsford is believed to be Welsh. Wends on his father’s side include- Michalk, Tschatschula. Wends on his mothers side include- Teinert, Hempel. Mathias, Kurio.
Glenn once heard Jack Wiederhold say, as Glenn and his grandsons were volunteering at the Texas Wendish Heritage Society museum, “We are very fortunate to have this museum with its artifacts and family genealogies. What we lost are the rich human interest stories from all the old ones.” This is Glenn’s attempt to preserve what he and his relatives remember from our own interaction with our parents and grandparents who personally knew their ancestors who came to Texas from Lusatia. Glenn is very thankful for the dedication and valuable work of Jack and Marian Wiederhold and Weldon Mersiovsky. They and many others are preserving our heritage for our future generations to know and appreciate. What a valuable gift!
In May of 2024 a group of 38 interested Wendish descendants travelled together to Upper Lusatia for a wonderful overview visit to the homeland of our forefathers. Some were my relatives, some longtime friends, and some new friends we met and connected with on the trip. Several months later we had a reunion event at […]
Our Wendish Upper Lusatia Pilgrimage Read More »
In the summer of 2018 I undertook a plan to visit all the Lutheran churches in Texas of my forefathers. I was able to attend a worship service at each of them. When the Wends landed in Galveston December 10, 1854, and settled on the Delaplain League in what is now the Serbin area, they soon
Faith of Our Fathers Read More »
My great grandmother (Grossmutter as she was called by my mother) Magdalena (Lena) Teinert was born 7 August 1875 near Warda, Texas. Her parents were John and Anna (Kurio) Teinert. John was 13 years old when he came over on the Ben Nevis to American in 1854. His mother died on the voyage and was
We Called Her GRANDMA KUBITZ: Magdalena Teinert Hempel Kubitz Read More »
Often I find myself researching online for Wendish, Sorbian, Upper Lusatian history and discoveries. Instead of watching TV. I find the research and study much more interesting. Some time ago I began receiving scholarly articles from a source called Academia. One such article especially caught my attention. Because several generations in our family have done the DNA testing, we
Scandinavian Wends? Read More »
I remember Grandpa telling me Reinhold Goes to School After the Wendish Language Class in February 2020, led by Weldon Mersiovsky, several of us were talking. I mentioned a statement I had heard Jack Wiederhold make last summer when my grandsons and I were volunteering at the Museum. Jack had said that we are very
Reinhold Goes to School Read More »
Glenn intends to write about his ancestors. In order to encourage you, the reader, to research, learn about, remember, and write about yours. Glenn, like all of us, had 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great grandparents, and 32 great-great-great grandparents. 10 of Glenn’s 16 great-great grandparents are either full-blooded Wends from Lusatia or
