INDIA

Yes, India of all places. 

Maybe everyone goes through this when they grow old or, maybe, its just me.   In any case, I get the urge every once in a while to explore my family's genealogy.   Discover my 'roots' so to speak.  Luckily, some relatives on my father's side of the family did a lot of that work for me  - not so much, with my mother's side.  I know very little about them - especially my maternal grandfather's family.  Sadly, I lived so close to him for so many years and I never thought to ask.

My maternal grandmother was born in Newport, KY according to my mother's birth certificate - her husband in Cincinnati, OH.  I've no idea how they met.  I have dates of birth and death and little else.

BUT, here is a nugget for my tree.

When I was growing up, we got a quarterly newsletter in the mail from a place called the Patna Mission.  Patna is a city in the northeastern part of India near Nepal - the capital of the state of Bihar.  Here is what I know of the story behind that connection. 

My grandmother's maiden name was Stegman.  She was born  and had a lot of cousins in northern Kentucky - some of whom visited us from time to time.  One of her cousins I never met.  His name was Robert Carl Stegman.  Here's what I know of him.

Robert was born in 1915 in Cold Springs, Kentucky - twenty years younger than my grandmother. He was the youngest of the eight children of Carl E. Stegman.  His family moved to Ft. Thomas when he was still young and he attended St. Xavier High School in downtown Cincinnati - graduating in 1933.   He then went to college in Milford, Ohio in a school operated by the Society of Jesus - a seminary - with the intention of becoming an architect and/or a Jesuit priest.  In 1941,  he traveled to India as a missionary.  He was ordained a Jesuit priest in Patna, India in 1947.   He never returned for a visit to the U.S. until 1966.   The Rev. Robert C. Stegman SJ died in Patna in 1987 at the age of 71.  He dedicated his whole life to bringing The Word to the people of India.  The Jesuits built and operate a high school in Patna they call St. Xavier. 

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