RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: little meg on Tuesday 30 January 07 21:15 GMT (UK)
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A few thoughts to share.
Genealogy helped me...
-learn how to use a computer
-make new friends
-appreciate my family
-be more understanding of life and modern society
-spend money ;D
Can anyone else add to this, I am sure there is plenty which I have missed
Margaret
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Keep out of mischief!
Led me to interest in other things. i.e. calligraphy, history of the SWBs.
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Gain a diploma in "Modern history research" and an Open University degree.
To find out a lot about population migration and the development of communities. To keep careful records.To forget HOUSE WORK, To have excuses to visit much of our beautiful land... to name but a few and to FIND ROOTSCHAT
Trees
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To build my first-ever website
To discover distant cousins
JULIAN
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...learn how hard my ancestors lived and worked
...to visit some beautiful churches and church yards
dinie
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To learn to live with all the little aches and pains of sitting at the computer too long, when I know I should get up and at least stretch.
but mostly, I think it has just helped me
To learn....about so many unexpected things.
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to realize dinner can wait
margaret
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Well for me it has helped me...
to travel - fair enough not to many places
to meet people - both family members and others
to be a bit braver about approaching people - nothing more frightening than having to phone someone regarding family history or meeting them for the first time
to be more organised - though that is taking a lot longer to master than anything else
to have a good memory - have to have this to reel off who is who and where they belong
to enjoy life more -
to appreciate my family - old, new and those still to find (I hope)
to listen - amazing how quickly youlearn this when others are telling their stories of the past etc)
to make new friends - yes that's you lot out there in RCland ;D
to think things through - amazing how many ways I can find people now lol
and many more ...
Carol
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Meet Roberta,a Cousin and a good friend!
Regards
William Russell Jones
Cefn Mawr
Wrexham.
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To learn where you came from.
To discover what your life expectancy might be and what your might die of.
downside
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To learn where you came from.
To discover what you life expectancy might be and what you might die of.
downside
Is this why you call yourself downside? ;D
Margaret
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Well Margaret - you are what you inherit.
I'm probably going to die of senile dementia between the age of 75-85.
I think it might have started already. ;)
downside
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I have only got 4 years to go if I follow my mum.
Ahhhh! too much to do, too little time.
Margaret
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I have become a competent computer user
I have discovered 18 first cousins
Numerous second, third, etc cousins
Travelled to unknown places, I have been to all my ancestral ‘homes’ 12 in all
Visited some lovely churches
Made contact with many people
Met many people
Taken a keen interest in the history of the masses
Taken an interest in the history of agriculture
Taken an interest in the history of various industries
Taken an interest in the history of the armed forces and many conflicts
Spent £££s
Loved it all
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Loved it all
And that's what really counts isn't it?
The fact that we spend loads of money and spend more hours than we should looking for someone, get frustrated as heck when we can't find them - and we still come back for more!
Carol
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to wake up in the middle of the night with an idea for a new thread and then not to be able to get back to sleep :-\
all the best
Pete
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With you all the way, Carol. Only want to add that the high you get when you finally track that elusive ancestor down, takes a heck of a lot of beating...
And yes, pete, I generally wake up in the middle of the night wondering why I never thought of trying...whatever...before, and can't wait to get started again.
So I suppose you could say, genealogy has helped me to curb my impatience.
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Genealogy has taught me how to read much better. After battling through some census returns, I can read anything! :P
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- to know more about my ancestors - some fascinating things discovered (and some frustrating brick walls!)
- to learn more about parts of the world where my ancestors came from
- to create a website
- to make some wonderful friends - mostly here on Rootschat!!!
- to find a couple of very distant cousins (I need to find more!)
MarieC
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- to become more efficient on the computer
- meet new people and make new friends, both long-lost relatives and those who have helped me through my research (although I haven't actually met any of them in person ;D)
- to learn a lot geographically and historically
- to help me become a tad more organize
- to spend a lot of time on the computer :o
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To remember to label the family photos and to ask about those from years ago that aren't labeled now and whose subjects could be lost forever.
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Learn to appreciate the hard ships & heartaches of our forefathers.
Imagine your children or spouse dying prematurely or watching them as died from diseases that are easily cured or prevented today.
My wife's grand-father took 39 months to die from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1910 at age 33. My great- grand-parents lost a son during the American civil war at age 20. The second son right after being discharged after surviving Gettysburg & being a prisoner of war in Richmond Va. for nearly a year. was drown at the age of 25.The third( my grand-father) was discharged after spending almost a year in Andersonville prison, Ga. A terrible hell hole of a prison.
Some of the least wealthy people in this country live better than most of our forefathers.
Consider that the average person died at age 47 in this country in 1907.
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Learn patience by trawling through pages of Census returns to find a missing "rellie"
Appreciate keeping an elderly brain alert.
Meeting on line people who share a strand of ones genes(and how awesome is that)?
Wondering how it was possible that five or six large families could live in one city building.
Enjoying the chat line , just listening or throwing in one's two pennorth.
To know that time is running out and ones children are going to be devastated to lose me ,so I feel that my researches will give them something of a continuity to hold on to.
Spring
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Well I started off laughing at (and relating to) all the lessons learned from searching for our ancestors, but by the time I got to Jack J's anecdotes I was losing the will - afterall I've read quite a few of my ancestors death certificates-maybe I'll just end it all now!
Incidentally some lessons I've learnt are that; I'm not organised at all (but I need to be).
That hindsight is a wonderful thing. (Why didn't I ask my Grandma and G-Granddad more questions and write the answers down?)
I've learnt to cut and paste and to retrieve photo's and scans from files I never knew I had.
I've learnt to ignore the kids when they're hungry and I'm about to have a "breakthrough" (yeah right)
I've learnt a new meaning for the word FRUSTRATION!
But, like you've all said we're still here coming back for more. I'd love to find just one cousin or relative, but its looking less likely.
Michelle ??? ;D :-\
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BTW Spring,
I went to school in Bulwell Nottingham.
Our school had a carving, in the Bulwell sandstone, over the door of a Bull with its head stuck in a well. Legend has it that's how Bulwell got its name.
The school (Bulwell St.Mary's) and the carving are still there.
Those were the days!
Michelle ;D
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I didn't write what I did to discourage anyone. Those were just my thoughts of how lucky most of us are to not have these horrible things happen to us, We also have a much easier life than our ancestors. The thing that impresses me is that they overcame all those things and more. Most of my relatives lived into at least their seventies. I was in the same situation as Michelle when I started. I think the best thing anyone that is searching for their roots can do is get exposure. Put queries on every place they can. Explain who you are and who your looking for. There are a number of nice people out there looking for the same people you are. Somewhere someone has the answers you need.
Good luck Michelle, Sorry, I didn't mean to discourage you.
Jack
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Hi Jack,
You haven't discouraged me at all, unfortunately I've got a very dry sense of humour which is not easily carried over in writing.
The people I've chatted to and whose information I've read all seem lovely.
So Genealogy has also helped me... find a whole bunch of really great individuals. ;D
I managed to get 3-free days on Ancestry.com and after wading through about 70 - 80,000 names I found yet another spelling of my surname.
Oh happy days!
Cheers Michelle ::)
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Thankyou Michelle,
I seem to have gathered more snippets about Bulwell and various families there than any other branch.
I will pass this new piece on to a couple of other informants who have done a great deal of research .
Thanks again
Spring
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......to put my elderly dad in touch with several long-lost members of the family. It's given him a new lease of life!
Nanny Jan
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Enabled me to
Build a website
Assess the family myths for truthfulness
Read 17th C wills
Use ingenuity to find records
Track one branch of the family to USA, Canada, and Australia
Especially on Rootschat - seek and accept the help of others, and in return help others where you can.
More intangible things like valuing your ancestors achivements in difficult circumstances, this gives you a broader perspective in other aspects of life
Bob
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To give my dad (at the age of 71) a photograph of his grandfather - who he had never set eyes on before.
Anne-Marie
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To give my dad (at the age of 71) a photograph of his grandfather - who he had never set eyes on before.
Anne-Marie
That's a big one.
I nkow have a photo of my mother's gt grandfather she hasn't seen.
She can't see well, but will manage with the aid of an illuminated magnifier
Bob
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Stay up into the wee small hours. ;D ;D ;D
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Hi Patrish,
Yes, I can certainly empathise with that one. I'd just got into sleeping at night and being awake during the day when I discovered Rootschat.
Now its trawling through this site, being inspired and enlightened by all of you and not forgetting learning where to go when you feel you've hit a brick wall.
Michelle
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Genealogy helped me plan better to ensure I leave something behind for my children and Grandchildren. A lesson to be learned here.
Back in the 1700s one of my ancestral lines were filthy rich with loads of properties and income from lands. They lived in grand houses and inter married into very wealthy, similar families. Generally they had a jolly good time doing nothing but mix with the gentry and inherit the money left to them by their hardworking, astute forefathers. :D
But they were a fickle lot and not very good business men. Loads of the money got squandered on gambling at cards and race horses, drinking and making merry, investing in business enterprises that were doomed to disaster, paying out compensation to others who shared in their losses. ???
But much more was lost in marriages, where the females of this line either got dumped by the husband (for being a bad wife or too ugly or not being exciting enough) or carelessly died in child birth ( ;D)
And the males married unwisely, then because of their unhealthy life style died of apoplexy, leaving a rich widow who remarried out of the family and took the money with her and she would die in childbirth too. :o
Did the husband give the dowry back to the family? Not likely he hot footed it to the next wealthy widow or eligible lady with plenty of financial backing. >:(
By the late 1800s rather than being landowners my lot were poor agricultural labourers, peasants and work house dwellers. ::)
So learning a lesson from all this selfishness in the past, I have ensured that all my hard earned cash will not by squandered and have set up small trust funds for each of my children and grandchildren. ;) Then I will be able to rest in peace when my time comes :-* Oh and they will have my family tree work so they can learn the lesson too. ;D
Here endeth the genealogy lesson.
Pennine
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hi Pennine,
my thats a lot of lessons to learn.
I had similar situations happen here in Australia, families had owned hotels etc and most became bankrupt.
Congrats on finding so much information on your family too :D
Margaret
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There is another lesson on these lines...don't have too many daughters.
One of my ancestors had a whole load of children and all of them girls.
The old boy was quite well to do, but he willed his property to be devided equally between his daughters...that soon cut it down in size. A couple of generations on and they were ag labs.
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The comments on ones wealthy relations is bringing to mind old "saws"
What goes around ,comes around." and "from rags to riches and back again"
Some of our Ag.Labs weren't too poor. I have one family who always put Ag.Lab and they were farmers, business owners . and employers. Some put Pauper to avoid taxes.
What is so differant these days.
So I have learned that I have much in common with my ancestors.... I resent all my personal details being known ( though these days that is a vain hope)!!
Spring
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Hi Spring
I too was wondering whether our ancestors are so different from us today. I detest the "Big Brother" mentality of today, but hey, thats a whole different chatroom!
Michelle ::)
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1. To make a lot of new friends with the help of Roots and BBC members
2. To find a living cousin (in his 80s) I knew nothing about.
3. Get photos of Grandparents I had never seen.
4. Discover names and birth marriage and death details of Aunts, Uncles and other family members I never knew and had never heard of.
5. To realise that there are many kind and helpful people in this world which restores faith in human nature.