Ancestry

[pdub]

This comes to mind from an email I got today.

Lots of folks spend days and years tracing their bloodline, great great great grand folks and such. Another hobby. Another passion. Some folks even write books about it.

My stance, and it's not a popular one, is that I don't really care. I knew Mama and Daddy. So.....I am who I am and those other folks, I just plain never met them. Gone before I got here, and that's it.

But that's just me and I know I'm wrong.

[Deaf Bob]

How are you wrong?
Know my mom and dad..
Know my mom's folks and love them,
Know dad's mom and she was hated.. Even by the ones that lived near her..
The rest.. Hmmm no help to me.. Most relatives I do not talk to except 1 often, 1 occasionally and 2 maybe 2-3 times a year.. Mostly wave as we pass on the street

[68scott385]

I know/knew my parents.
I knew four grandparents.
I knew two great grandparents.
I know six blood uncles and one blood aunt.
I know nine of eleven or twelve cousins.
How many call me in ten years? Maybe three.
With all the dysfunctionality in the ones I've known, why would I want to find who their elders were.
According to family tales, sir name was assumed after orphan child of other descent was taken in. Then there is the rumor of Cherokee blood in my grandmother but no one ever registered because it wasn't "cool" to be Injun then. If I even decide to start searching I know where to start. An aunt by marriage on my mothers side has tracked part of that family WAY back.

[pdub]

I know/knew my parents.
I knew four grandparents.
I knew two great grandparents.
I know six blood uncles and one blood aunt.
I know nine of eleven or twelve cousins.
How many call me in ten years? Maybe three.
With all the dysfunctionality in the ones I've known, why would I want to find who their elders were.
According to family tales, sir name was assumed after orphan child of other descent was taken in. Then there is the rumor of Cherokee blood in my grandmother but no one ever registered because it wasn't "cool" to be Injun then. If I even decide to start searching I know where to start. An aunt by marriage on my mothers side has tracked part of that family WAY back.

Well, that's what I think I meant. So you do all that research and you are still who you are. Some folks are so obsessed with the tracing it back. That's a fun game I guess, but to me it doesn't matter to a hill of beans. I just don't get it, not into it.

[Deaf Bob]

Adding to mine: Bureau of Indian Affairs came into town... My great Grandma was full blooded indian..
Went to the local bar and toldthe owner that he heard he sold beer to an indian... (Uncle who was half indian) gave the name..
Bar keep says, " Oh I doubt it.. There's his Dad" pointing to great grandpa.. Lily white with shockingly red hair and huge handlebars..
All the kids from that union were black haired dark skin, including my grandma!
My mom is a throwback to the red hair fair skin..

[Big Dave]

I'd thought about searching my family tree but figured I would rather spend the money and time on my hot rod instead......after all it's in the present and so am I, enough said.

[nesabo]

My moms side is having there annual family reunion today, haven't gone in years.

[silver_bullet]

be careful on how deep you dig! remember that your friends can be chosen...your relatives can't...Just Sayin'

[studemax]

Our family history is all in a huge by large railroad trunk. My great-great uncle started it back in the 30's, and my great uncle completed most of it by the time he died in the 70's. Then I got it, and passed it on recently to my nephew. It's great for the kids when it comes time to write a school assignment about your family history.

It goes all the way back to the days of kings in Wales. We had slaves, doctors, railroad presidents, postmasters, teachers, mechanics, and farmers. We have one signer of the Declaration of Independence, a young buck who died defending the Alamo, two brothers who were Civil War spies (one for the South, and one for the North), and one hung in New Mexico for stealing horses.

It's not all fun and games, but it's never boring.

[Scott Liggett]

Don't know a bunch. I do know my father's paternal grandfather was a Oklahoma Boomer. His dad came up to Independence, MO in the 1920's with his brothers and stayed. He rented a room from a widow who also made dresses and taught piano to make ends meet. His mother was that lady's daughter. They were married in the front room of that house. They lived the rest of their lives in Independence, MO. My grandfather and his two brothers built a total of 9 houses in Independence as their families grew.

My mother's parrents are all I know on that side. My maternal grandmother was a model in the Chicago area. We have newspaper ads for clothing stores with her pictured in the newest styles back then. Grandfather was one of the few bomber pilots we before WWII. He was stationed at Hickham in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked. He spent 1942 training crews in New York someplace, then went to Ridgewell England flying B-17's. He became the group commander of the 381st there.

My dad went in search of family name history back in the '80's. Found some paperwork from the College of Arms in Great Britain saying our last name is bastardization of northern England or Scottish name, Leodgard. We even have a family crest.

Don't know anything else. But, wouldn't mind finding out about it. Could be an interesting read.

[Deaf Bob]

Our family history is all in a huge by large railroad trunk. My great-great uncle started it back in the 30's, and my great uncle completed most of it by the time he died in the 70's. Then I got it, and passed it on recently to my nephew. It's great for the kids when it comes time to write a school assignment about your family history.

It goes all the way back to the days of kings in Wales. We had slaves, doctors, railroad presidents, postmasters, teachers, mechanics, and farmers. We have one signer of the Declaration of Independence, a young buck who died defending the Alamo, two brothers who were Civil War spies (one for the South, and one for the North), and one hung in New Mexico for stealing horses.

It's not all fun and games, but it's never boring.

Interesting.. John Morton is my relative on the Declaration of Independence ..

[studemax]

Interesting.. John Morton is my relative on the Declaration of Independence ..

Mine was George Read - he married a Pile girl.

[bulletproof]

my moms side can be traced back to Ireland.. is it important? no ,but its interesting ...

[DanStokes]

I know a little about my family's history and I guess it isn't TOO important to me as I haven't put much energy into finding out any more. ME, on the other hand, likes to dig around in her family history. I support her in that but overall her family history is much more interesting than mine!

Dan

[Loren]

My parents came to CA (WWII) in part to get away from "where they came from", didn't focus on the past but held no grudge. I myself went back to MN to meet the family still there and gaze at tombstones a couple times, learning about the 1890-1950 era and coming home with stories and a box of old photos. The time prior to that, as emigration from Germany and Scandinavia was taking place, seems lost to history.

There seems to be no younger family members who are interested in the stories, or to whom I'd trust the photos.

I do have a family member back there who likes to drink beer, drive his pickup truck down dirt roads through the farmland, and fish. Oh we had a good time.