Searching for Our Family Connections by Dennis Tivel Ancestry and genealogy mean roots. For most Americans, roots do not go very deep. America is about the future, not the past, as in most European countries. Americans arrived and had a tendency to move often, to start over and over again, to go west, etc. As a consequence many of us, including myself, would have great difficulty itemizing our ancestors beyond our grandfathers and grandmothers, who were still alive and with whom we were somewhat acquainted. Beyond them, we had scarcely any knowledge of their ancestors and where they came from or how they lived.

Hans Tivel Biography by Elizabeth Marie (Tivel) Kowalski My Father, Hans Tivel, was born in Viljandi, Estonia April 9th, 1878. His Father's name was Henri Tivel, and his Mother was Rita Karu. (My sister, Marguerite, was named for her.) Henri Tivel was a stage coach driver and the family lived above the station. Dad was a very young child at the time and he remembered riding high up on the coach with his father on many trips, and he described the sensation of traveling at such a height. The coach line serviced the public much on the order of the Greyhound bus lines today. New drivers would be exchanged at stations and would continue on with the passengers. Fresh horses would replace fatigued animals.

Brian Tivel: A Short Biography by Royce Tivel On October 26, 2020, Brian EugeneTivel passed away at the Enloe Medical Center, Chico, California, at the age of 81. My memories of Brian are mostly from his youth. He was a popular student, played football and baseball, and was an exceptionally talented artist. He was also a natural clown, when he wanted to be.