Are you into family genealogy?
For years, my mother was family historian. Each August at the reunion, she would get up and report on births, deaths, marriages, and the like — and it was maddening. Everybody wanted their branch of the tree represented accurately, but nobody wanted to pass along the pertinent information. So Mom would collect funeral home memory cards, clippings from the newspaper society pages, and the like. Still, because our family is so huge (Mom was one of ten kids, and her dad had seven siblings), there were holes in the information and more than a few disgruntled cousins.
After Mom became too ill to keep up, my sister took over, and she does a great job. But I feel sorry for her; it’s another generation or two removed, and they still breed like bunnies, so things have only gotten worse. Keeping track of all of that information is a job I wouldn’t wish on anybody.
So here’s my plea on behalf of all family historians everywhere: If something noteworthy happens in your corner of the clan, keep track of names, dates, and the like, and share that information without having to be tracked down relentlessly. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut when mistakes or omissions occur.
I had to do some work in genealogy in college, and thought it was interesting. It’s a lot of work, especially since on my father’s side alone, I have 65 first cousins. My dad was the 15th of 15th… So just keeping track of those guys is almost a full time job! I made it back to my great grand-parents, but then since the older generations are long gone, so are the memories of them thus information… sad, but true.
I know what you mean.
Because Mom was so diligent, we have a lot of information from her side of the family, going back to the 18th century. Even though my dad’s family is much smaller, I hardly know anything there, though.
I love history. Geneology personalizes it for me.
I am one of the oldest cousins and for some reason I am the keeper of our “oral” history. At family reunions I am always surprised that I seem to be the only one who remembers these stories. (But then, it is possible that I am making this stuff up.)
Unfortunately, I am a total mess when it comes to any kind of tangible record keeping. I can barely keep track of this years tax receipts. (Although I think my uncle’s funeral card is still in my good purse. He died in ‘04. Does that count?)
I could (and have) spent hours on Ancestry.com but someone else will have to step up and keep the records.
Oh yeah…”breed like bunnies” heh heh!
best regards!
Peg