Genealogy moment

My mom has taken to sending these emails to my sister and me, called "genealogy moments," on certain birthdays or anniversaries. (Because she's a [very lovable] genealogy nerd! She goes to genealogy camp and everything!) Sometimes the emails are about things we know, like our own grandparents' birthdays, and sometimes they're things we might have heard before, but don't think about very often. Here is today's, and it's one of our most interesting family stories, I think:

Your dad's grandmother, Radegundi "Gundi" W___, was born this day in 1874 or 1876 (conflicting reports). Her mother died when she was a baby. Her father didn't know what to do with all his children without his wife, so he sent some of them to be raised by the nuns; Gundi was one of those. She came to the USA when she was a teenager, traveling alone on a ship. Her brothers had paid her passage, but she didn't know that it included meals so she didn't eat for days. I guess she finally found out she could eat too. After arriving in NYC she traveled to Chicago, still alone, where 2 of her brothers, Frank and George, were living. She married Ferdinand R______ in Chicago in 1894. They must have attended the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, don't you think?

Can you imagine sending your child across the ocean, to be raised by the nuns??? Crazy. P.S. Yesterday was, incidentally, the 20th anniversary of my high school graduation! Learned this from a friend on Facebook (I had no recollection of the actual date). *Points to self* Officially OLD.