Family trees may contain links to information to support the work researchers have done. Again, examine those documents carefully before deciding they belong with your ancestors. I’ve come across a census that was cited as ‘proof’ of a father-son relationship, but it was overlooked that the man who was supposed to be the father died five years before the son was born. You’ll also save yourself a lot of time if you keep careful notes about each of your ancestors and where you located your the information; plan on investing in notebooks, file folders, pencils and a supply of erasers. Enlightenment which seems so memorable at the moment of discovery will later become a blur.
It’s easy to get sidetracked with exciting possibilities of ‘hints’ that take you back across the centuries. I really thought I was close to finding Adam and Eve at one point (‘Mnu’ of course)! I spent a couple weeks documenting a fascinating area of lineage without having proved the groundwork first. It turned out that if I had stayed focused, I would have thoroughly unearthed more recent information that would have made me realize I wasn’t directly related to that branch in the first place. The only thing I ended up for all the effort was an amusing tongue-twister: Mary’s half-sister, Mariah, married Mary’s daughter’s son. Oh, well.
Most of the early censuses are vague and disappointing, while others hold a wealth of information; perhaps even more than you bargained for. The standard advice I offer to people is, “Don’t to go digging into the past unless you are completely prepared to accept the skeletons with their once long hidden secrets.” If you really don’t want to know, don’t look. I got a dose of my own medicine this year and now have a massive question mark looming over a substantial branch of my family tree. This particular secret, regarding the paternity of an ancestor, can never reach a conclusive solution without lingering doubts. That currently leaves me with one nicely documented branch of the family tree that I may not even be related to and another branch that I didn’t realize existed, but will never know if it is the right one either. While it would be consoling to have every piece of information fit precisely the way we expect, the lure between men and women is natural and people have behaved accordingly since the beginning of time. When it comes right down to it there is no way (short of DNA testing) to know if any ancestor is who they appear to be on paper.
The genealogy research has been a quasi social or professional media experience; I keep finding people and welcome them into my ever-widening circle. Regrettably, unlike some media, the hundreds of people I have added to the pages of my history don’t send messages back in reply to my questions. Well, that’s not quite true. I discovered a 4th cousin I previously never even knew existed. We are both Eli’s great-great-granddaughters. She has been squinting and digging through the same maze of documents, and juggling the identical names. We have talked on the phone once and will be collaborating on our efforts. There is a feeling that goes far beyond words to share a conversation with someone who is familiar with the names within the family branch I am talking about (even if most of them are John and William). We discovered that while struggling to figure out where our great-great-grandfather fits in the family tree, we have both independently been referring to this investigation as ‘Searching for Eli’. Now that’s kind of spooky
There is a real sense of satisfaction and completeness in this process. I think that at this point in my life, now that all my ancestors have already died, I miss the faces that reflect my heritage. The story-keepers are silent and the opportunities to interview them have run out. I feel a strong motivation and responsibility to bring their voices back to life and match them with all those photographs. If I don’t get this accomplished, it will be that much harder for the next descendant who happens to be infected with genealogy fever. Besides, my efforts guarantee my own secure position on the proper branch, plus a little taste of immortality.
©2011 Roberta McReynolds for SeniorWomen.com
Caption, all from Wikipedia Commons:
(1) Description Family Tree of Marie Therese Charlotte of France, Madame Royale, first child and first daughter of King Louis XVI
(2) Babenbergers Family Tree
(3) HBO's TV Program, Big Love, Family Tree
(4) Ahnentafel von Herzog Ludwig (1568-1593)
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