RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Pinetree on Thursday 18 October 07 15:37 BST (UK)
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I have come into contact with lots of lovely people through this hobby - including of course the fabulous Rootschatters :)
For some of my lines of research I have met several people researching the same family whilst for others I have have not made a single contact.
It leaves me wondering whether the genealogy bug is in the genes and is passed down some lines but not others :-\
Pinetree
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A very interesting point. The cousins on my Father's side of the family plus one other contact are interested in everything i do but my 1 remaining cousin on my mother's side of the family has no interest at all - or her children - not sure about her grandchildren not had contact with them recently.
That's just the near relations I have found a few more distant ones on quite a few lines.
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The advent of the P.C. and laptop and the interest shown by the TV, led I suppose to the commercial interest that is Ancestry and to RootsChat etc.etc.
Researching one's family history, is certainly easier now and those people who take it up are in effect making the fullest use of the power of their P.C.
However, beware, it is addictive!!
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I've had the same experience.
On my father's direct line I've not found a single other researcher, even though every generation had very large families and I know there must be plenty of descendants.
On my mother's direct line I've made contact with a number of descendants all researching the same family line back.
And on my maternal great-grandmother's line I have found more family history enthusiast descendants than you can shake a stick at ;D
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My experience is that most of my family is not that interested. I must be the genetic anomaly?
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Interesting thread.
As mentioned have large families in my tree and not any concact from what must be many decendants. On the other hand have had many contacts from one or two lines that are not that huge, which could give weight to the heading question. 'Is geneology in the genes'
Makes you think. ::)
Cas
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An interesting thread, on my paternal direct line I have not come in contact with anyone, on my maternal line I came in contact with a long lost uncle, which was nice. On the OHs side everyone seems to be at it, I've made contact with people all over the world. Just wish she would show more of an interest, perhaps genealogy misses the odd generation.
Simon
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With some lines I get almost too many contacts,back to the 1500's, forward to the present day. With others just a couple of us are all struggling to get back beyond 1800.and forward beyond 1900, despite having other names who should have descendants
it appears then that genes for research (or family interest) do come down through some families and not others.
Mind you it is more exciting when at last you take a chance and order a birth or marriage cert. after 1915,and it is correct.
Spring
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Perhaps the why of genealogy is as pertinent as the who. It seems that often it is the emigrant, the adoptee or a survivor of a diminishing dynasty who wishes to know from whence they came.
Beth
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Elizabeth, that is an interesting point,
I and a female cousin are the last of our branch, and the surname on our side has vanished.
For the most part I have been sorting out family legends, but it's true that in the back of your mind,there is always the hope that there still other surname descendants out there
Spring
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I wonder if they would be suddenly be interested if told there is a family fortune somewhere.
sylvia
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I agree that the more distant the connection, the more piqued the curiosity. As an emigrant myself I wanted to know my roots. At this point I know more about my ancestry than my parents and grandparents did!
Is curiosity in your DNA or it is it your circumstances that makes you inquisitive?
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I think it is possibly a combination of a sense of wondering what makes up our physical presence and a sense of belonging to a past that has disappeared. Some of my close family members are interested, but unfortunately most of my elder cousins are not interested in helping at all.
My journey began with the death of my eldest brother this year and that was a catalyst to find from where I came.
On some family lines I have found many descendants researching- esp. the English side. The Irish lines seem to have no-one out there at all!! ( must be in the genes)
As too the end of the line with family
names, I have always not wanted to give up my family name even after marriage and only hyphenated it.
"We are only but our past and present and the possibility of the future" ( original quote by me)
Trish
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I think I do it where someone else might do crosswords or suduko.
Its a puzzle waiting to be solved - but much more interesting as it touches other items of interest.
I've never had a strong interest in family per se - got that from my mother !
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I've had this experience too, but in my case I can tie it to Scottish clannishness! Scots really do seem to like to research their extended family, very thoroughly.
In my paternal grandfather's line (being a Scottish clan), almost everything has been researched by a range of people so there really is not a lot left to do, until I get right back to my gggrandmother - a fascinating lady of French, Dutch and Irish extraction. Some family legends there, but the fact that she came from the West Indies makes researching very difficult!
As for my maternal grandmother's line, a second cousin of Scottish descent on her father's side is a genealogy nut and has cornered the market there too!
Still, I have plenty left to look for on my other two grandparent lines, as well as the West Indian lady! There is a London family in my paternal grandmother's line who resolutely remain a mystery. :'( :'( There's another disappearing ancestor as well. As for the Irish - ::) ::) ::)
MarieC
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What a interesting thread!
Not sure whether the genealogy bug is in the genes as little old me is the only one interested in my line ..
I have been researching my family history for well over 19 years andl have made contact with a few decendants of various families....
The most contact i had was with my maternal grandfathers side and they were the Ag Labs of the family with the most children...
Still waiting for the day that i find a direct decendant of my grandmothers family i know her mother never had anymore children but wait in hope that one of her uncles and aunts decendants will contact me one day.
Would love to see also a photograph of my great-grandmother for i never knew what she looked like !
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When Mr and Mrs Stephen Tutt lost their only son soon after birth in 1754 they must have thought the name would disappear into the mists of time, but I have found descendants from at least 4 of their 7 surviving daughters who are happily researching their roots. In 20 odd years I haven't found anyone interested in the other side of the family - not even the current ones have any interest in their ancestors!
Carole
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It leaves me wondering whether the genealogy bug is in the genes and is passed down some lines but not others :-\
Pinetree
If it's a genealogy bug should you be able to get a prescription from the doctor for something which would assist you in knocking down your brick walls ???
Christopher
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If it's a genealogy bug should you be able to get a prescription from the doctor ....
I think my OH would agree with this bit of your message - I don't think he has inherited the genealogy gene ;D
Pinetree
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Does anyone get upset if they discover a branch that is "the last of the line" ?
Simon
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Does anyone get upset if they discover a branch that is "the last of the line" ?
Simon
What an insensitive question, Simon 8)
You can kind of get upset if you are the last of the line :'(
Christopher
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Sorry if I said something inappropriate.
My tree has some lines that ended, which saddened me at time of discovery. Just wanted to know if I was too sentimental a genealogist.
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If you didn't feel any rapport or empathy with your relations and what you learn about them, then there would be no point in carrying on.
Just a list of names and dates. it is the fascinating snippets which may get the interest of other family members too.(Eventually and fingers crossed)!
Spring
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My tree has some lines that ended, which saddened me at time of discovery. Just wanted to know if I was too sentimental a genealogist.
I am a very sentimental genealogist Simon. All the infant deaths for example I just can't imagine how the families coped.
I also shed a tear when I discovered my Gr Grandfather as a 9 year old orphan in the workhouse, a fact my Grandmother never mentioned but maybe she didn't know. I think that's what motivates me too - finding out what people went through in their lives not just who they were.
Pinetree
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Simon
It's an excellent point that you made! 8) I too am a sentimental genealogist.
I have a little family, not in my direct line but close to it. He was a brilliant scientist, knighted eventually for his work, and she a brilliant novelist who apparently was admitted to a mental institution towards the end of her life. They had one son who showed promise of being brilliant also, but who was killed at Gallipoli in World War I. I nearly shed tears every time I think about them. What a sad thing. What a wicked waste of a brilliant young man.
MarieC
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Well, when I started researching my family tree in 2001 I was already aware of a family member (mothers uncle) who had written books in the 1930's about various things to do with life in the Scottish Borders.
It was only when another family member passed me one of his books that I'd not read before, that I discovered he had been a keen genealogist, too!
When another genealogist (from "across the pond"!) saw my enquiries on another message board, they put me in touch with somone who turned out to be my mother's cousin - the son of the above author!
So, I would think there must be something to this notion of genealogy in the blood - either that or we're all just plain nosey about our family's affairs! :P
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This question certainly made me think...
My maternal grandparents never knew 3 of their 4 parents and consequently family history was anecdotal at best. My grandmother had intense curiosity about her ancestry, which I can safely say I inherited from my mother.
My paternal grandparents had less contact with their relatives than a couple in a witness protection program. Although to be fair my father had some curiosity as to his roots, he never met any extended family members. My genealogical research has found little interest in contact from this side of the family except for one person 3 generations removed.
Therefore I conclude as a sentimental genealogist that curiosity about your family history is in the DNA!
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I'm an old sentimental genealogist but I would say that if it was an inherited trait, our ancestors would have handed down all they knew and they didn't so.....
I rest my case
Gadget :)
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My interest in tracing my family history was sparked about three years ago when I was given my gt grandparents family bible. I wonder what they would think of my efforts to uncover the past....lol....they would probably hope the family skeletons remain buried.
Tricia