Why genealogy?

[elin]

When I was a child my mother had a set of post cards from the time of the 1st world war.  There were several hundred of them set out in a huge album.  Each one had a verse of a current song or a hymn with a picture depicting a scene from the song and you built up sets to make up the whole song.

They had all been written on by a man called Adolphus and sent to his girlfriend, Dora.  At the time I was fascinated by the picture side of the cards, they were mainly tragic or very sentimental and I would read them on rainy days.

A couple of years ago I was given the cards which by this time were loose.

I put them in  order and read the love story of my gt uncle Adolphus and Dora.  I had to know what had happened to them.

Sadly I found that  they married, had a little boy and one year later Dora died of TB,  followed quickly  by the little boy and then not long after by Adolphus.

I had always been going to research my family history but now I was hooked .

What a great question Darren!

Best wishes,

Elin

[Lydart]

Elin, what a wonderful story, with a sad ending, but at least its more or less a complete story.  So many of us are left with big question marks.

Take care of that collection of cards; its a great treasure !

[mare]

Like Suey I received a condolence letter after a family death from a relative  who was researcing our uncommon name. I had always been interested but hadn't done any actual researching myself, and like others regret now not asking more and making notes earlier, though had accumulated a box of interesting family history and had some good memories.  Luckily we had a family reunion for one branch of OH family a couple of decades ago and we all got lots of photocopies of info and photos which I appreciated and put into a file book. The lady who did it had free use of an old copier or it would have cost heaps to pay for each sheet .. lots of black ink on some photos though.
I can see why people get hooked on genealogy .. I have many other distractions with full time work and other hobbies..but have enjoyed following another line of OH we knew nothing of. Learning a lot as I go .. including getting more familiar with this site whith all the shared knowledge. Now getting some more info from his dad while we can because I've still got his side to do in detail. OH getting a little involved when he can too, so something we can share.
Plenty of gaps to fill in on my side still too to keep me going for a while and I've a few more boxes of family history to store..

mare

[Jean McGurn]

I had spent a number of years researching my village Parish History when my late sister suggested I do the family tree.

Got hooked so much that when some villagers started a Village History Group I handed over all my research for them to use as I have found all my spare time (apart from my 'battle' re-enactments) is taking up all my time.

All I need now is a Time Machine so I can visit all my new found ancestsors. 

Jean

[MarieC]

Elin, that's a wonderful story, I agree with Lydart - and you are so lucky to have all those cards!  What a treasure!

Jean, if you ever find that time machine, give me a loan of it once you've finished with it, will you? 

MarieC

[pinefamily]

Just as long as we could all take a turn in that time machine!
I'd love to meet the various ancestors who made the journey here to South Australia, to hear first hand what made them take such a huge step; especially my Swedish great-grandfather who jumped ship here, after apparently running away to sea to avoid an apprenticeship.
Fantastic postings everyone, it is so interesting to read people's motivations for family history.
Darren

[genjen]

I think I have always known that I would do it one day. My parents started researching their families in the days of hand written letters and two weeks of waiting for an answer to a query. I have all of their findings, some of which have turned out to be inaccurate - what a shame to go to all the effort and then to have the wrong set of ancestors. My father would have been utterly hooked if the internet and resources like Rootschat, Ancestry etc had been available to him.

What I find hard to understand is not why we want to do it but why some people have no interest whatsoever in their family history.

Jen

[Dancing Master]

I was brought up with a sense of family history my grandmother and mother kept all the family documents to be passed on to the next generation. and I inherited these some 45 years ago.

As a small child I was also dragged around the area I lived in and told about all the places of interest and shown where the ancient barrows (burials) were, Roman roads etc.,

Was read to by great Uncle who was a historian and book dealer about the Romans and the Celts, and the Picts as well as our local history.   loved his readings about the Brigantes and the other tribes of early Britain. 

He also was responsible for my love of books. for which I could never thank him enough.   

[airdlass]

First became interested when my granny died and my dad came home with ,among other things a black wooden box full of certificates, medals, photos, little cards announcing the death of someone,handcuffs(my grandfather was a policeman in Edinburgh) which my granny had kept.  My dad used to say that most folk in the village he grew up in were related. Whenever I came home for a visit he would take me to the churchyard.
After that I tried to find things but bringing up family etc got in the way although I never lost the interest.
Three years ago I started again in earnest and it's been a brilliant journey - not always a happy one - but good all the same. Sadly my dad isn't here to see my results but I have more or less managed to prove that he was indeed correct about being related to most folk in his village!
Hopefully my kids might show an interest someday.