How long have you been researching your family tree?

[mongrel-diaries]

Yes Mom's interested..Her family history has always been hung up on the 1800's and I've undertaken to fill in some blanks..I have fleshed out a long detailed history on my Dad's side..that part that he referred to in the 1940's as the "abdicated mennonites and mongrel mohawks.." Indian wars and pilgrims caught up in real estate struggles..
I just inherited two large boxes of papers and photos from the Belfast side of Mom's family..this all came out of nowhere..came to the mongrel they did because no one else was interested..which brought me to explore this group..she sparkled when i told her about the folks here and on the Belfast Family forum and how much had been gathered in just the last week.
She has slid further away since losing her eyesight but when I enter her dreamworld with stories about her grandparents in Belfast or Newburgh Scotland she comes back at least momentarily to talk about things with clarity.
She corrected me on the pronunciation of the Irish village and of her grandmothers Gaelic name yesterday. If the question confuses her she goes off topic. But there are ways to trigger her attention and bring her back.
Exploring her family history seems a small but important part of her "medicine".
I'm sure the veterans of this science would agree that individuals as much as institutions have difficulty absorbing and processing all the hard as well as inspiring truths about their past. I have found that most difficult with my generation of Veterans of the Cold War and Vietnam so I really can't judge the older ones.
The uplifting moments..I call them firefly moments..when I look into the eyes in a photo of some ancestor caught in some adventure of life..or discover a reference, like 20 years ago when reading on a history of the 1600's Rogerene pilgrims of an ancestors name in a study .
oops..better get towork..
Ron, Mongrel son of the Empire...

[genjen]

What you have said about family history being part of the medicine is, I am sure, absolutely right. I sometimes used to feel guilty because I didn't do as much in terms of housework and practical stuff as my sister did for mum but I know that I was able to give her a bit of quality to her life, just by being willing to talk about her family history and her own past. A day or two before she died, she was telling me ( rambling in a morphine haze) about her childhood neighbours in Middlesbrough and asking if I could find them for her - they were older than her and will be long dead - so I said I'd have a look to see what had happened to them. Am I being partcularly daft in knowing that I fully intend to do exactly that because although they were in no way related to me, they were nevertheless important enough in her life for mum to remember them seventy-odd years later.

Jen ( sentimental old thing!)

[Aulus]

history is a big friggin lawnmower and we're the village lawn..

What a brilliant one-liner!

And I speak as a historian!  I'm going to use that, if I may, as a signature on other forums.

[mongrel-diaries]

No genjen, that's not daft..it's the best part of  gathering memories of our elders, and more importantly, with our elders while they still walk with us.. walking down memory lanes with old folks, having them describe their "firefly moments"....  I've gained so much from elders .. we who weigh these things are "different"..perhaps it's a vestigial cultural thing..Druids, Medicine Woman, the tribal story teller ..the one with the memories of the tribe..if that's daft..well what the heck..I'll drink a pint of ale to that..

and Aulua:
I'm touched..it's a token confessional point of view from the dysfunctional  and voluntarily disenfranchised ..we have fun with it..
from what I remember of the Latin,.."insane" or "in sane" means to be within ones own mind..and i've found that weighing the essence of our blood and soul across the centuries will certainly bring that on in spades..

cheers from
the mongrel puppy of the second litter..

[mongrel-diaries]

Aulus my apologies..just realized in a seniors moment that I mispelled your moniker..
I was distracted by that Newcastle Ale I poured for a toast to Genjen and her Mom's memory lane..

..
mongrel

[MarieC]

Am I being partcularly daft in knowing that I fully intend to do exactly that because although they were in no way related to me, they were nevertheless important enough in her life for mum to remember them seventy-odd years later.

(wiping away a tear!  )  No Jen, you're not being daft.  Where she is now, your mother will know and be very happy that you are honouring her request!

I wish desperately that I'd been able to tell my mum and dad of my discoveries.  But one has been dead for nearly 40 years, the other for nearly 20.  I do feel that they are very pleased that I am doing this, even though I can't tell them about it!  (Wish Dad would speak to some of his elusive ancestors and get them to show themselves!!    )

MarieC

[genjen]

I keep thinking how much I wish I had asked just that one extra question. Which, of course, mounts up and is now how much I wish I had asked ten thousand extra questions, both of my mum and my dad. ( And my grandparents, aunts uncles etc) I have only the one uncle left on mum's side and he was only about ten when his own mother died so not much hope there. I know more than he does about the family! And my dad's younger sister lives in Australia and has only been back once in recent years. She did bring a load of old photos, which was fantastic because I now know that her ma wasn't always a little shrivelled old woman but was once a very lovely young woman.

What we failed to ask is now soooooooooooooooo frustrating isn't it?

[MarieC]

You are NOT WRONG, Jen, it's b***** frustrating!

I have no-one left to question - one aunt who is still mentally OK, but she doesn't know anything really.  Can you still question your aunt in Australia?

MarieC

[genjen]

I can still ask her questions and I am hoping that she is coming to the UK later in the year, so will make a long list! She is just eighty but more like sixty-five in energy and outlook, so hopefully will be able ask questions for a while yet.

Jen