In recent years, the Getman Family Association has been led by two men -- from different lines of the Palatine German Caspar Getman. They have made the past come alive. This book picks up the story of the Getman family upon the arrival of the only known son of Caspar to have survived the voyage to America in 1710.



It is the story of the descendants of one of those sons, Frederick Getman in the Mohawk Valley -- especially after the arrival of my great grandfather Fayette W. Getman in Ilion, New York in 1901.



The portrait of my father on the front cover was done by his Aunt Ina after she was crippled by a stroke. It hung over my bed when I was a child and now hangs over my desk. Two months ago I discovered that behind it there was a hidden portrait of my great grandfather Fayette Getman. I made his acquaintance through the help of people who have made it a point to preserve and honor the past. He is pictured on the book flap in his grocery store over a century ago. Real photos, old Ilion NY postcards, and historical documents tell the story of his family's history.