Hi Karla,

I hope your foot is recovering and getting better.  And I also hope that you are closely related to the Aden family in Western Washington (and now also in Auckland, New Zealand) whom I know.  If you read the attachment genealogy that I sent to you, you will better understand why.  I did not do a regular genealogy, but instead I did what I call a genetics genealogy where I try to follow special extreme genetic characteristics in families. 

 

There are two things about you that interest me.  Your father's name was Carl and he named his daughter "Karla".  In the Aden family I know in Western Washington, an Aden father (now deceased) was named Carlin and he named his daughter "Karla".  The Karla I know is now about 63 years old.  This implies that your two families are probably related and have a common male German ancestor whose name was Carl Aden.  Because both of your families considered him to be important enough and special enough to name their sons after him, he must have been pretty important or pretty special.

 

Nancy Aden, told me many years ago that the German Aden name was much longer and difficult to pronounce, so the family shortened the original German name to the first two syllables - Aden when they immigrated to America. 

 

The Aden family whom I know are extremely gifted.  Clifford and Carlin as well as their two sisters had very high, near-genius level IQ's.  Since IQ is largely inherited, this implies that their father, John Ennen Aden was also extremely brilliant with a near genius level IQ.  And very high IQ's likely go back in the Aden ancestry for many generations.  The fact that your brother, Gary Aden, was a doctor implies that he also had a very high IQ.  And it is very likely that you and your other siblings also have very high IQ's and were very good students in school. Is that assumption anywhere near correct?  Are the children, and grandchildren of you and your siblings also above average in intelligence and as students?

 

Clifford and his daughter Nancy were exceptionally attractive and exceptional athletes with super cardiovascular systems.  Does that run in your family too?

 

And the Adens I knew were all tall with Clifford being 6'-6", his father, John Ennen Aden being 6'-6 1/2", and his daughter, Nancy being 5'-8".  Are you, your siblings, and all of the children also above average in height?

 

This has been what I have been exploring with this genealogy for the last 50 years, so I look for narrative descriptions more than dates born, married, died.

 

Take care and I hope your foot is better and the job market brightens for you.

 

Paul