Meghan++Amons

__Meghan's Wonderfull Family History __ __The Schmidt Family__ My great grandfather, Theo Schmidt, came with his unwed mother, Rita, from Germany in the late 1800’s. They don’t know who Theo’s father was so Felix Schmidt adopted him. Felix was an American who was studying in Berlin and Rita was Austrian and was Jewish. My great grandmother, Margaret Brunning, parents were Cecilia Engels Brunning and Charles Brunning and they came from Germany. Margaret and Theo met in Chicago and had four children, one of them being my Grandpa. When the children were about elementary age they relocated to Southern California. **Grandmother ** My grandmother’s mother, Mary Bourke, emigrated with her three sisters and her father from County Cork, Ireland. Mary Bourke’s parents were James and Josephine Ott. James was a doctor in the US Navy who ended up committing suicide due to mental illness. After her father’s death, Mary moved to Washington, DC where she worked as a secretary at NBC. While working there, she met my great grandfather Arthur Godfrey. Arthur Godfrey was born in New Jersey to parents that emigrated from Ireland through Ellis Island and planted themselves in Hackensack, New Jersey. Arthur's mother, Katherine was a pianist in the silent movie houses and his father, Charles was an unemployed actor. There were 4 kids and the family was too poor to stay together. Arthur was sent to live with the baker in their town. He convinced a Catholic priest to lie for him to get him into the Navy at the age of 15 and became a radio operator on a Battleship. He then started his career as a Radio host and became a very famous pioneer of Radio and television in this country.
 * Grandfather **



