Hanna 1

Nick Hanna
Professor Raymond
UWRT 1104-021
30 October 2016
The History of My Family
My family tree is very thorough and interesting. There are many different stories,
hobbies, traditions, etc. that are very relevant throughout my family tree, and on both sides.
Many of these hobbies and traditions were passed down to me, so it is very interesting to see the
history of it all and where it originated from. In this project, I explored my mothers side of the
family (Moffett), because more information was available, but I will talk about my dads side
(Hanna) briefly as well in this essay. I will elaborate on both sides of my family because both
sides share many of the same interests, occupations, customs, etc.
To further examine my family tree, I interviewed many of my family members and close
family friends. The person that gave me the most information was my aunt, Sue. She gave me a
lot of valuable information and was the forefront for breaking down and finding links in my
family tree. She gave me a pamphlet that was all about my family that a person in our family
wrote. It shows many generations and includes names, birthdates, death dates, and marriage
dates, but does not include place of birth or death. It also provided me with a few stories and
pictures, of which I used in the visual portion of this project.
My family predominantly originates from Scotland and Ireland, but according to the
pamphlet, they have resided in Germany before. According to a History.com article named U.S.
Immigration before 1965, The United States received some 5 million German immigrants.
My family was some of those five million. In the pamphlet entitled The History of the Family

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of Caroline Knuth and Henry Icke, by Sarah H. Icke Wall, around 1861 my great-great-greatgrandmother, Caroline Knuth, lived in Germany. During this year, her parents decided to leave
Germany and immigrate to America. This was not a good time to immigrate because the Civil
War in America was just beginning. The family took a sail boat from Hamburg, Germany and
were on the ocean for over six weeks and because of the Civil War going on they could not land
in New York, where they originally intended to land. As an alternative they docked in Quebec,
Canada. In Quebec it took many weeks to be processed out of customs. After going through the
struggle of customs and the immigration process they eventually migrated to De Pere,
Wisconsin. Caroline got a job as a housemaid and the family of whom she was employed were
New Englanders, so she acquired the same accent and had no German accent at all. It was here
where Caroline learned how to speak English fluently, read, write, etc. Later on in her life she
worked in Wrightstown, Wisconsin and that is where she met her husband, Henry Icke, thus her
name became Caroline Knuth Icke. Before the marriage, she was in love with a farmer but soon
realized that the farmers life was too harsh, so instead she married Henry, who was a tailor. They
exchanged vows on November 23, 1871. This was the beginning of life for my family in
America and it continues throughout generations.
One element of my family tree that is relevant on both sides of my family is service in the
military. On my moms side, my grandfather, Ben Moffett, served in the navy and his brother,
Frank Moffett, served in the army. An interesting fact about Bens service is that he served as a
Frogman for the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) during the Korean War. According to an
article entitled The Navy Frogmen Underwater Demolition Teams, the main tasks of the
Underwater Demolition Team was to conduct bench renaissance, to cut cable and nets, explosive
destruction of underwater obstacles for amphibious landings, limpet mine attacks, submarine

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operations, and the locating and marking of mines for minesweepers. This means that he never
was actually in face to face contact, but he definitely helped the actual fighters by making sure
they were safe. Another interesting thing he always used to tell us was how he used to be in the
submarines and all the mines he planted/destroyed. On my dads side, my grandfather, Lon
Hanna, served in the navy as a diesel mechanic and a barber. This is one aspect that can be seen
on both sides of my family tree.
There are many hobbies and interests that have been passed down through generations
and on both sides of my family. One of those is the love for music. On my moms side of the
family, my great-grandfather, Victor White, had a strong love for the guitar and one of his old
guitars was passed down to me. It is a mid-fifties acoustic Silverstone guitar and I still play it
from time to time. Also, on my dads side, my grandfather had a strong love for drums and music
in general and he passed that down to my father and then onto me. He gave me my first guitar
when I was about seven or eight. With all of this combined I gained a strong love for music and
the guitar and it is a vital aspect of my creativity and my life. Another interest that was passed
down through generations was the love for working on cars. On my dads side, my grandfather
owned many automotive shops, including body shops, engine shops, upholstery shops, etc. At a
young age my dad was forced to work with him at his shops and learned a lot of valuable skills
while working with him, most noticeably upholstery. This is so because my dad now owns a
custom upholstery shop and it is one of the most known and top tier shops in the industry. As
they say, the apple doesnt fall far from the tree; I also gained the love for cars from him and it
is also one of my favorite passions. There are many interests and customs that are seen in my
family tree and it is interesting to see them be passed down from generation to generation.

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My family has a lot of fascinating history behind it and many hobbies and interests that
have been passed down through generations and even down to me. There are still some missing
links to it, but I am sure that they are out there somewhere, but they are just out of my reach at
the moment. My family name is Scotch-Irish, but the last place in Europe that my family resided
was in Germany, so I also have a little German in me in some form. The generation that migrated
here did face obstacles, but found a way to overcome them. I will continue adding to my family
tree and will pass down traditions to my kids and they will pass them on to their kids and so on.

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Works Cited
"The Navy Frogmen - Underwater Demolition Teams." Navy SEALs. NAVY SEALs, 08 Apr.
2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.
"U.S. Immigration Before 1965." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 22 Oct.
2016.
Wall, Sarah H. Icke. The History of the Family of Caroline Knuth Icke and Henry Icke. N.p.: n.p.,
1970. Print.