Even Beethoven is being unearthed. They are also trying to determine the cause of his deafness which may have been the same neuropathy referred above. Hemophilia also runs in this royal line. Alzheimers There are now family groupings that take a very active interest in their surname medical history. One such, on the Internet, report their well organized re-unions more or less dedicated to investigating the excessive intrusion into the line by Alzheimers disease.
Thousands attend the family re-unions.
Every room in town is booked. The family has documented the incidence of this condition from the late 19th century when they emigrated to the U.S.A. from the Ukraine. In their continuing investigations they have even charted their ancestors passage from 16th century Germany, then by a grant of lands in the 17th century from Katherine the Great of Russia. The migrants from Germany settled in the Ukraine in two small villages, Frank and Walter, near Odessa. The present inhabitants of these villages also reveal the same gene - the same statistically excessive trait.