A Family History
My great-grandparents were both born in DeKalb county Georgia. My great-grandfather’s name was Thomas Paul Hensler (the first of three) but we called him Baba. His grandparents had been from Germany and after coming through New York they spent a brief time in Illinois before settling down in Georgia. My great-grandmother’s name was Mary Emma Kilgore, a.ka. Meme, and history is more complicated- her ancestors came over from Ireland at some point- but we know that they were in Georgia for a long time. He was born in 1899 and she was born in 1907. I had the pleasure of knowing her before she passed away in 2004 but he died in 1989. Both were in their 90s and left a lasting impact on the place they called home.