I know what you mean, jme - just names on a list and dates don't really tell us enough about our ancestors' lives. However, you can learn quite a lot by checking out the dates when they did various things and find out what was happening at the same time.
For example, one of my ancestors, John Pearle, was born in Rattlesden, Suffolk in 1541 and died there in 1637. He was born in the reign of Henry VIII, when the monasteries were being dissolved and died shortly before the start of the English Civil War. During his lifetime there were outbreaks of Plague in the village. Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, visited the village and 12 'witches' were executed in Bury St Edmunds; and a group of villagers emigrated to America to found a colony there. I do often wonder how these events impacted on his life and indeed, whether he was even aware of historic events such as the Gunpowder Plot (1605) - did it pass unremarked in the village, or did it keep the rumour mill running for a very long time?
