What if your family's pioneer past looked exactly like your favorite childhood TV show? When Lisa Elzey discovered her great-great-grandfather's story, she realized she'd been watching his life every Monday night on Little House on the Prairie. Complete with homesteading, hand-hewn cabins, and a white beard down to his belly.

In this episode, Lisa shares how a purple-inked memoir written by her great-grandmother's half-sister unlocked the story of Johann Heinrich Seba, a German immigrant who arrived alone at 18, hacked through Minnesota wilderness for a mile and a half in a single day, and became so beloved his community lowered flags to half-staff when he died. For decades, Lisa and her mother searched for his origins in Germany, writing letters to archives and scrolling through endless microfilm reels. Then in 2016, a single search on Ancestry revealed not just where he was from, but a family secret hidden in Lutheran christening records that changed everything they thought they knew.

Discover how one ancestor's story can bridge four generations of women, why a steeple clock matters more than any antique collection, and what happens when patience meets the right record at exactly the right time.

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