E. Jo Huffman sets out to find her paternal ancestor Hans Finter who immigrates to America in the mid 1700s. All she knows is where he was from, the ship he sailed on and where he landed and began his life and family in his new country.
Jo visited Karlsruhe, Germany, studied daily life during the 1700s in rural Germany, and tried to piece together what life must have been like for Hans and what would have motivated him to leave family behind and set out for the unknown.
She has created a compelling story told in two volumes: Freedom Calls: Karlsruhe and Freedom Calls: Rotterdam.
As with all historical fiction, this is a work of fiction. Huffman has no way of knowing what really happened. It may have much more bazaar than the way she imagined it. One learns much about daily life in rural Germany through these two volumes and what it took to get to America.