Hi! Let me introduce myself: I’m Alex Tolksdorf and my passion is genealogy! Genealogy is more than just names, dates, and places. It is the study and exploration of the contexts that our ancestors lived within; their determination and struggle, joys and sorrows, defeats and successes. We see the best and worst of times through the rear-looking lens of our ancestors. It is a fascinating journey!
I have been going genealogy for over ten years, which started with a high school trip to New York City and a visit to Ellis Island. Since then I have spent countless hours delving through historical records, pouring through archival holdings, and exploring the past. Both sets of grandparents met due to the circumstances of the Second World War – including my maternal grandparents in a post-war Displaced Persons camp in Bad Kreuznach – and all immigrated to the United States in the 1950s. My paternal side is German, my maternal side is primarily Ukrainian / Belarusian, which meant my earliest research was done in sources “across the pond.” As such, my primary areas of focus are Germanic, Dutch, and Eastern European research.
I have been happily married for just over one year now to my beautiful wife Katelyn! We have a dog, an American Eskimo, named Koko. Indeed, the weekend before the wedding I presented a genealogical talk “Researching in German Civil and Parish Records” and during my brother’s best man toast, the subject of entering the details of our newly-minted marriage license into my family tree software may have come up! My wife’s Dutch ancestry has been a new subject of my research, and represents a new focus area.
Presently, I work at the Ford Motor Company as a financial analyst, and am the current president of the Ford Genealogy Club. I am also active in the Metro Detroit Ukrainian-American community, serving as treasurer for the Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit & Windsor, and treasurer / circulation manager for the Detroitski Novyny (Ukrainian Metro News). Outside of genealogy, I enjoy tackling a home improvement project or two, and taking a drive in my Ford Mustang – a Deep Impact Blue 2014 model, GT, with the 5-liter V8!
I’d love to hear more about you and your project; please reach out to me through my contact page!
Tolksdorf Genealogical Research 