I am pleased to have chosen to do my autoethnography on my ancestry and my family’s assimilation into American life. Before this project I was a very casual observer of my family history. I’ve developed a newfound interest in who I am and where I come from. Much of the research is there for the taking because of the research that my mother has painstakingly conducted. I now understand that there is a wealth of information that often disappears upon the death of a relative. By questioning many of our ancestors, my mother has retained many memories and life stories for my generation and generations to come. I have a much clearer understanding of where I come from and who my ancestors were. Before working on this autoethnography I knew some of the stories of generations past, but I didn’t know one family line from the next. I didn’t know that the Mintzer’s, Berman’s and Holtz lines were my grandmother Elaine’s line, and the Dillman’s, Seidman’s and Poris’ were my Grandfather Buddy’s line. I didn’t know that Moe Berman’s mother died in childbirth or that his father one day just disappeared. I didn’t know the family success stories, or the story of my great great grandfather who could not assimilate and supposedly went back to Austria in the early 1900’s. Life was hard for those coming from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to an unknown world on the Lower East Side. But many rose to the occasion and made good lives for themselves as Americans.