How many have relatives who actually care?

[MarieC]

Yes, that's a reality check.  Thank goodness for Rootschat, where we can talk to other addicts!

I have one brother who is fairly interested, but very busy.  He did help me set up my webpage so I could put stuff on it - I wouldn't have had a clue how to do it!

The other brother has minimal interest, but his wife more so.  I have started to do her family history too, and she is really interested in that!  They do give me a little bit of money towards buying certificates, etc.

Guess I am lucky to have this amount of interest!      

Hope that one day, some of my nieces and nephews will become interested.

MarieC

[loo]

I saw that SOG is planning a workshop around a topic very similar to this, but I don't have it handy.

[Christopher]

You know, you're right!  My husband came from a large extended family, and for the most part they all lived within 20 miles of each other.  When I first started dating him, it was a normal thing for me to be taken along to a Sunday get together, which could be as many as 60 people in someone's kitchen.  As the older members died off, the get togethers died off.

On my side of the family, I can honestly say there was never a family reunion, a get together, and seldom a visit to relatives for the holidays.  Granted, even back then, there weren't a lot of relatives.  Just my immediate family, my aunt's family and my very elderly grandmother.  Once grandma passed away, we never seemed to gather again.  (not that it was fun anyway, my mom didn't like my dad's family, and even dad didn't care for them.)

But, now that I think about it, my children have really never met anyone in their dad's family.  They are introduced at various funerals, and that's the only time they see them at all.  Even my husband calls them "the funeral relatives."

That could be a VERY good reason my kids don't care about their history.  It's nothing more than a bunch of strangers on a piece of paper.

Patty

Patty,

I am a mixture of several nationalities. My maternal Grandmother was Norwegian and my Dad's parents came from England. His parents moved to Ireland in the early 1900s. Dad was educated at Galway Grammar School. His parents returned to England with his sister and he started his working career in Belfast in the mid to late 1920s. Sometime in the 1950s a business friend offered him a senior position in a business in London. Dad turned it down and told his friend the quality of life in Ireland was so good he did not want to make the move. The same situation exists today. The quality of life in Ireland is brilliant. Both my sisters live in England. Ireland is my home and there is no way I would leave the place. Your children will miss the experience of a lifetime if they do not accompany you on your trip to Ireland. The people are so warm and friendly. They are exceptionally hospitable and in no time at all your children will be wondering why they did not want to come in the first place and put up such resistance to your suggestion. I hope you do make that visit and hope you have a really great time meeting all your distant relatives. Gee that reads a bit like a commercial for Bord Fáilte (The Irish Tourist Board) lol.

All the Best, Christopher 

[mitchell]

Patty,

Not all of my family are interested in their ancestors either (my teenagers eyes positively glaze over at the mention of them) however, I don't let this put me off. It's my hobby and my de-stresser which I'm happy to share if anyone's interested. What a wonderful opportunity you have to "go home" and meet your family, one that you can't pass up on. So, I hope that you do go and have a great time getting to know everyone. You can bet that all your Rootschat friends will be dying to find out how you get on  and I'm sure that the rest of your family will be interested too once they discover what they've missed !

Elaine

[Su]

Christopher,
I found a 'cousin twice removed' on RC last year, and he moved to Southern Ireland, and says he would never come back to UK, as life was so different over there.  He loves it.

I also have a friend in France who is moving to Ireland next year ... so hopefully I will be invited over, it's somewhere I've always wanted to go 

Patty,
Nobody in my family was remotely interested in my research and finds (except my daughter).  My Dad would have loved it, but I expect he now knows more than I do, and he gives me nudges in the right direction from time to time when I get stuck...

I made three of my nephews a ring binder with a summary of Dad's side of the family last year, and I didn't get one thank you, so I guess they weren't interested either.

When my sister-in-law came to stay in October I asked about her family, and she said she had been given information on her Father's side, and said her Great grandfather was Spanish, but knew nothing about her Mother's side (who sadly died the day after she gave birth to my sis-in-law), but she knew her Grandparents were called Alice and Washington Birch.  I thought it was an unusual name so we looked at the 1901 and found him with his parents, Elizabeth and Abel Birch.  Abel we discovered was born in Missouri.  Up until that moment my sis-in-law wasn't very interested.  Suddenly things changed, and we then followed the family back to Missouri 1840...
Then I chased Elizabeth back to Arkendale Yorkshire, and we are off for a few days in Spring to take a look round the area.
She is now very keen, and I have done her and my niece a ring binder each of all I have discovered, together with a wonderful photograph of Washinton and Alice Birch kindly restored for me by Rootschatters.
 Before Christmas I was relating our discoveries to her son, who sat there with the 'glazed look.' Who ever invented that expression was right, the eyes do actually glaze over,
However, at least I have two new converts, and I get a lot of pleasure in making new finds for them.
I know I can leave my huge box full of files to my daughter, but goodness knows what will happen to it when she joins the ancestors.
I really must get round to getting all the information into some sort of book form, as that might be a better way of sparking some interest in future generations.

Enjoy your trip to Ireland Patty, I envy you your new found cousins and country.

Su

[Christopher]

Su,

Don't wait to be invited. Get over here, buy your own ticket. Bring your car or pushbike lol. Bring a tent, stop in a hostel, a B & B or a hotel. Ireland is an ongoing party and great fun. Every one loves it. Come by plane during the summer months. look down once the plane is crossing Ireland and you can practically see it is Forty Shades of Green lol. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5023
I am having problems finding the right tune so you will have to bear with me please. In the meantime there is good music and some great views here. Tell your Children if they manage to get as far as Ballynahinch in Co. Down I will buy them a pint of Guinness apiece. Just walk into the Primrose Bar and Restaurant, ask for Christopher. They should point you to the newsagents right across the street so cross the street, go into the newsagent and ask for Christopher. They should point you to my doorbell next door. It is easier finding me than it is finding one of Liverpool Annie's Leprechauns lol. http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,114695.0.html 

[Quinn]

Christopher -

Am finally getting caught up with all my replies.  When I get to Ireland (And I WILL get to Ireland!!) I'll be looking for you!

I think that is going to be part of the fun of going home.  Not only meeting the relatives, but also getting to meet some of the people I've been corresponding with!

Watch for me!

Patty

[Christopher]

Hiya Patty,

You use a great expression here "It's nothing more than a bunch of strangers on a piece of paper." It's a brilliant observation. One thing puzzles me though ... if that is the case why are more and more people becoming interested in genealogy? There's a lot more to it than that ... I went on a guided tour of Belfast recently. There were four of us... the guide, a friend of mine who travelled from Co. Kildare for the day and a young man from Canada. He was interested in the places his ancestors may have been as well as those pieces of paper. The past, present and future history of the country in which your ancestors were reared counts just as much as those names on the pieces of paper. I mention my friend as she thought there were one or two questions the guy asked which the guide was not able to answer .. she felt the guy wanted slightly more than dry factual information about the area .. a bit of humorous detail would have helped. 

Su, would you get a move on with that book of yours. I have two sitting beside me .. they are full of great local information .. I wish I'd written a book .. maybe I will. The two I have are one about a Dublin locality "Around the Banks" of Pimlico" by Máirin Johnston and one about a small market town in Co. Down "The Ins, Outs and Whereabouts of Castlewellan" by Patsy Mullen .. There are great photographs in both books as well as great verbal pictures of all the local characters.

Chris

[CarolBurns]

Just go for it Quinn!

You have people who you have never met who are your family and they WANT to meet you. They will welcome you with open arms and never let you go again. If hubby wants to go then that's great but if he doesn't then you will still have a brilliant time I'm sure

Get saving for that ticket!!

My husband had no family but his siblings and their children when I first started. His parents died when he was little (4 / 9 yrs) Once I started it took me a few years but I found 1st cousins still living and  just in Northumberland. Once they were found we had to have a meeting with them and they came to us (more room with the B & B). Now we have found 2nd, 3rd and even 4th cousins. He's now told me to stop as he has too many to keep track of lol

I have found new cousins on my side as well so meetings with them have been done.

The worst part for me was when I found there wasn't anyone in the family really interested in what I was doing. Hubby and kids class it as my hobby and that's it.

Now after 10 years of hard searching and plenty of mysteries solved I have members asking me about it whenever they see me. the best part is that it is my nephews and nieces who are asking - they want to know where they come from and who they "belong" to - their words not mine.

Now they expect me to have found someone new when they next see me. Photos of GGG Grandparents have been handed out and have pride of place in their homes next to those of their children

Now is the time that my heart swells with pride for the hard work I have put into this "hobby"

Carol