Young adulthood · Germany to America
A new life in America
A new language, a growing family, and traditions carried across the ocean.
Brigitta met Gordon Clumsky in northern Germany. She later came to the United States speaking very little English, adapting to a new language and culture while they began their family.
Her family remembers her hairdressing and sewing skills, and her return journeys to Germany with three young daughters. The precise dates and details of these journeys are still being gathered.
Family recollection
A record of her arrival
The family has shared Brigitta’s immigration arrival record. Preserved alongside the photographs from Germany, it is a document of her journey to a new life in America.
Her family’s memories tell another part of that journey: learning a new language, beginning a family, and carrying familiar skills and traditions into a new home.
Document supplied and identified by the family, September 14, 2026.
From the family collection
Places and keepsakes
Adapted from the family development brief. Family recollection; details are still being gathered.
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