"Fables, Foibles & Follies" is a delightful potpourri of stories collected from the author's immediate family members, distant relatives, friends and close acquaintances. The time-lines of these tales cover many generations. A 'generation' has been described as the period of years between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring. Today, most schooled intellectuals define a generation as approximately thirty-three years, being careful not to commit that standard to any strict semblance of accuracy.A few years ago, the author's daughter (in-law) gifted him a subscription to one of those family discovery and heritage DNA services that you see advertised all over the television and internet. To be succinct, he surprisingly uncovered two siblings and countless relatives he never knew he had. With some patience from hiswife, and tons of help from old friends, close family and newfound relations, the author constructed quite an impressive family tree that goes all the way back to the middle 1600's. The gigantic, circular DNA roadmap includes genetic tags from Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, the Balkans and Central Europe. It is likely that the Balkan, British and Irish DNA roots stem from the pillaging and plundering of Northern Europe and the British Isles by medieval Viking hoards. With that in mind, it's no wonder the author played the Sousaphone in junior high and enjoys the taste of rakfisk, whale and lutefisk.The author discovered that his relatives certainly wore coats of many colors, spoke in many tongues, and traveled on foot, horseback, wagon and ship just to make it to the New World. It's easy to imagine that some of them may have been driven out of town on a rail.He spent many hundreds, perhaps a thousand or more hours doing research into his ancestry. His paternal great-great grandparents (Fredrik and Inge (Hofenhagen) Hackmeister) were young, newlywed Prussian immigrants aboard the SS Spree from Bremen, Germany. Inge and Fredrik were born in Posen, Prussia in 1841. After comparing passenger departure records from Hamburg, Germany, and crosschecking them with Port of New York arrival lists, the author discovered that an immigration clerk bastardized the family surname when Fredrik and Inge arrived in 1858. The name was instantly Anglicized and changed from "Hackmeister" to "Hackemer" likely because it sounded better and was easier to pronounce. In fact, immigration clerks arbitrarily changed countless surnames of European settlers in the early 20th Century from Boston to Ellis Island. Additionally, review of census records also indicated several changes made to the spelling of surnames throughout his family tree. Additionally, he discovered six instances of spelling changes in his family tree. Examples range from Archambault to Campbell, Faergahl to Furgal, Boedecker to Decker and Diehl to Deal. Norwegians, Swede, Danes and Icelanders have a bigger headache when it comes to surnames. Times have changed, but in years past, Nordic surnames most often followed the father's given (Christian) name. For example, if John had a son and named him Peter, Peter's full name would be Peter Johnson. John's daughter Jane would be Jane Johnsdaughter. In such a manner, one famous Norwegian poet and Nobel laureate in literature, walked about with the odd moniker of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.It is a foregone conclusion that even government-issued identification does not tell you who you really are. That little laminated card in your wallet or purse is nothing more than a government-sanctioned suggestion.Edward Hackemer suggests that if you want to know the whole story, you need to figure out who you are all by yourself. It's a daunting task, but please, do try to have fun despite the rigmarole.