As someone pursuing a career in engineering, it was interesting for me to find out when looking into my lineage that some of my ancestors pursued a career path similar to the one that I am currently on. My grandfather and first, second, and third great grandfathers all pursued careers very similar to mine, and they all achieved their own version of the American dream.
My grandfather on my mother’s side, James Richard Hoyt, was born January 24, 1936 in Portland, Oregon. He served in the Navy as an engineer and later received his undergraduate degree in mathematics while minoring in engineering. After my grandfather received his degree, he started his own successful warehousing business in Portland that still operates today. I’ve always felt that my grandfather and I have a lot in common, and his interest in engineering has furthered my belief in this connection. His ability to start his own successful business makes me proud to have him in my lineage.
This engineering ancestry goes beyond just my grandfather in my family history. My great grandfather, James W. Curtis, was born in Virginia, Minnesota on February 7, 1913. He was the child of Joseah Turnell Curtis, who was a machinist at Great Lakes Auto Parts and Machine Co, a profession very similar to being a mechanical engineer. Perhaps my interest in engineers
stems from multiple generations of engineers in my family dating back to the 19th century. James started his career as a machinist, having been mentored by a machinist in Portland. He went a step further than just being a machinist like his father, though, by attending Oregon State University, where he received his degree in mechanical engineering. While at the university James joined a fraternity, mirroring my current path. It is an inspiration to me that he was able work as a machinist and pursue a formal engineering degree at the same time. His transition from machinist to engineer displays the upward mobility of the American dream, and I am impressed with the degree to which he was able to fulfill his goals and succeed.
Going even further back in my ancestry, my third great grandfather on my mother’s side, Heinrich Wolf, also displayed his achievement of the American dream. He later changed his name to Henry Wolf to help avoid racism against Germans. Despite hostilities and extenuating circumstances, he ascended from a simple laundry boy to being the owner and manager of his own laundry company. I can relate to his ambition because I am also planning to pursue a career in management through the STEM Path to MBA, and I am interested in the prospect of entrepreneurship and owning my own company. It also inspires me to see that an immigrant who came to this country with no money and little education was able to achieve so much, especially during the era just before WWI when anti-German sentiment was near its peak. My ancestors were able to achieve the American dream, and seeing that they could all excel in a situation so similar to my current path gives me confidence in pursuing my own aspirations and goals.