By Natalie Gerhardstein

American Scott Deheck visited the Grand Duchy this September for the first time, and yet he already qualifies for Luxembourg citizenship.

The Wisconsin native toured the country with a group of Americans, all of whom were doing what Scott was: filling in the gaps of their family trees. As part of their tour, organised by the Luxembourg American Cultural Society & Center (LACS) where Scott also works, visitors pair up with locals for a day to try and dig up more information about their Luxembourg roots.

According to Sara Jacoby, LACS executive director, this year the response from local volunteers was overwhelming. "We had about 15 extra drivers volunteer, which has never happened before," she said. "It really shows how excited Luxembourgers are."

'It smells like home!'

When Scott set out on Wednesday, he had an information sheet provided to him by Jean Ensch, one of the most knowledgeable genealogy researchers in Luxembourg. On it was listed Nicholas Deheck, born in 1842, who is Scott's paternal great-great-grandfather.

It's through Nicholas that Scott is eligible for Luxembourg nationality. The law states that direct descendants of a Luxembourg grandparent who had Luxembourg nationality on January 1, 1900, are also eligible to claim citizenship. Although Scott already has Nicholas' birth certificate in his possession and just needs to fill out his own paperwork, he wanted to learn more about his ancestors and to see for himself where they came from.

"A lot of people hope to discover they are related to nobility or something," he said. "Not me!"

Scott's aim was more modest: he was looking for a house in Folschette called either "Haff" or "Michels". He had learned of the house in the couple of population census reports he had received, which dated from 1852 and 1855, detailing the family of Pierre Deheck and Marguerite Heiderscheid, Nicholas' parents.

Scott's paternal line included several farmers, so it's perhaps no surprise that upon arriving in Folschette, Scott joked about the country air: "It even smells like home!"

Unfortunately, the house didn't have an address and, despite talking to a few locals (including an elderly woman who came from a different Heiderscheid branch), Scott never managed to find it. And, although Scott stumbled upon a number of Heiderscheid grave markers at the local cemeteries, he never found a Deheck marker: most of the gravestones didn't date back far enough.

"A lot of the names on the gravestones look so familiar though," he said. "They are names that pop up in Wisconsin quite a bit."

Visits to the communes of Rambrouch (which covers Folschette) and Boevange-sur-Attert also provided Scott with several birth, marriage and death certificates he can add to his growing genealogy compilation.

For Scott, what's most important is the connection to the past. "It's easy to lose your story and for succeeding generations to lose those stories too."

Meeting a very distant cousin

In the search for the Deheck family line, Luxracines also provided Scott with information. And what's more, one of its members, Patrick Koster, is also a Deheck descendent, albeit from the Bissen line. Patrick estimates he is around 14 degrees removed from Pierre Deheck, Scott's great-great-great-grandfather.

Around 300 years ago, some Dehecks left Bissen, and Scott's line headed to Folschette.

In the afternoon, Scott met up with Patrick, who talked with him in detail about why it can be so difficult to trace family roots. For example, in most cases, you can't find records prior to 1700. Some of the oldest records in Luxembourg, dating back to the early 1600s, can be found in Useldange, yet even those are incomplete.

Furthermore, family houses don't always share the family name, as is the case with the "Haff" or "Michels" house where Pierre Deheck lived. (According to Jean Ensch, "Michels" is probably derived from Michael, Pierre's father.)

Patrick enjoys the sleuth work behind genealogy. "I like finding the missing pieces of the puzzles," he told Scott. Upon parting, the two promised to keep in touch, and Scott handed Patrick a gift: a Starbucks mug from Wisconsin.

Early memories of Luxembourg culture

Although this trip was Scott's first to Luxembourg, he has memories of its culture from when he was little.

At the age of 10, he went to the Luxembourg Fest (held in Belgium, Wisconsin, every year) for the first time. The festival is considered the "World's Largest Luxembourg Family Reunion" and Scott enjoyed it so much that he asked to volunteer in later years.

He also recalls how much his dad loves eating "Treipen", made in the Luxembourg style, and how the dish is served at a little restaurant called Hobo's Korner Kitchen, just off the highway near Belgium.

And although he remembers there being more emphasis on his mother's Irish-Hungarian side when he was younger, he is now eager to share what he has learned about the Dehecks with his family.

During his next trip to the Grand Duchy, he also hopes to make progress on his nationality: "I'm hoping to return to Luxembourg in 2018 with my sister so we can visit the Bierger-Center together to hand in our paperwork. I think it would mean a lot for us to do this together."