The discovery of ancestry is a journey of love.

Like most such explorers, I began with the materials close at hand.  My great-grandmother, Julia May 
Folwell Hoisington, had drawn an elaborate family tree showing the genealogy of the Folwell line of my 
father's family.  Her daughter, Edith Natalia Hoisington, expanded this work into the Hoisington line.  
My aunt, Maida Barton Follini, developed this family history further in the family newsletter.  My uncle 
Allen Hoisington Barton traced the Barton and Allen lines.  My brother Frederick Allen Barton copied and 
restored old family photographs.  My aunt and uncle maintained and preserved numerous family photo 
albums.

After I explored this wealth of material on my father's side of the family, I ventured into the uncharted 
waters of my mother's side of the family.  I benefited enormously from the world of knowledge available 
through the internet, tracing the roots of the Lewy family and the Falk family on the computer.  Good 
luck led me to treasure troves of photographs - an archive of Lewy family photos donated by a family 
member to the New Mexico State University; Breitenfeld and Falk photo albums in the possession of my 
uncle Frederick Breitenfeld and a second cousin, Jay Lane; and an album of Cohen and Lowenberg 
photos compiled by my grandmother's cousin.  The Cohen-Lowenberg album filled a critical hole in the 
family history, leading to further internet searches.

And most recently, a distant cousin in Australia, Joseph Breitenfeld, learned of the U.S. Breitenfeld 
family through a magnificent new book about jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond (born Breitenfeld) and 
contacted my uncle, Frederick Breitenfeld.  This connection has opened up several generations of 
genealogy in Prague and Vienna.

Information is a key resource for genealogists.  My goal in creating this website is to collect and 
preserve the information I have gathered and disseminate it to people with a legitimate interest, 
consistent with maintaining the privacy of living relatives.

So explore, and please leave a note in the Guest Book (or send me a private note by e-mail).  This site is 
a work-in-process; additional family history and photographs will be appreciated.

Nancy E. Barton