On my fathers side my GGfather came over from Germany with a brother I think. They settled in Colorado and worked to save money to bring the girlfriend over. My GGfather's brother went to work in the mines either in Colorado or Wyoming and was later murdered. GGFathers girlfriend came over and 3 years later they were married and bought a section of land. Raised 10 kids there. My Grandmother on this side of the family was here since the 1600's being in Mass and eventually came to Colorado by way of Iowa/Ohio. My GGfather died of gangrene from being stepped on by a horse.
On my mother's side, one side goes back to England, the other side was in the US since the 1600's.
I have relatives that have fought in the Rev. War/ Civil War, WWI and WWII. I even have relatives who fought against each other in WWII. That was the weird part knowing that my relatives in Germany fought relatives from the US.
Having researched alot of my family history the thing that I think about is the hardships and the difficulties in traveling, and just living. They all had tons of kids and worked hard and played hard. I never saw my grandmother in pants. She worked outside in the garden, hung clothes on the line, canned, cooked on a wood stove, never had indoor plumbing (until I was 13 years old), only had electricity for 15 years before moving into town in the late 1906's and all of this in a dress!! I can't even tell you the last time I had a dress on.
Just a thought.