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Today both sides of the family have been enriched by our discovery. Irmgard Farden Aluli, the matriarch of the Hawaiian branch, made a pilgrimage to her grandfather Christoph's grave site in upstate New York, where, accompanying herself on the ukulele, she sang the Hawaiian farewell song. Two years before my father died, he went, along with my sister and nephew, to Hawaii to meet the Fardens. They were greeted with alohas, flower leis and the native music made famous in part by the Fardens. Last spring, at a party to celebrate Irmgard's induction into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, our Hawaiian relatives taught my son Christof, now 18, a hula. And he gave them a taste of his own music, which he played for them on his great-great-grandfather's handmade, koa-wood guitar.