A bit shocked, Confused...and a bit hurt

[jaybelnz]

Pleased you enjoyed it - I think it's super!  And I'm quite sure some  of my ancestors wouldn't be too pleased with some of the choices I have made either!!      Especially my parents and grandparents if they had known half the things I got up to when I was a wild teenager!!

i.e.  Went to a dance when I was supposed to be at the movies, and went to a Youth Club on a Sunday (sinful no less)!!    Of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg!   

Jeanne

[IgorStrav]

Yes, good poem.

I had a family reunion last week, which 25 people attended, and there were

13 direct descendants of 1 ancestor (my great great grandfather), and 1 direct descendant of that ancestor's great uncle.

We had a group photo of all of us plus our spouses on the lawn, and we did think that the man in question would have been amazed - and I think he would have been proud. 

[Daisy Loo]

What a brilliant little poem!

And a very good point!

[narnie TL]

This is part of doing your tree.
My grandads da, wasn't the father of the rest of the kids in his family, the other kids dad died 7years before he was born, and his dad was the lodger, who, changed his name to the families to save confusion. they never married, well not that I can find yet.
My other nan, the great uncle I thought was my great uncle, wasn't. He was raised by my great grandmother as her own, and he always thought she was his mom, until he found out his mom, was actually my great aunty. she got pregnant while her husband was away at sea, and he told her to get rid of him on the train track, but great grandma took him in as her own.
My other grandad, left home at 13, lied and got in the army, when his mom died, his dad married her sister, who he had already fathered a child by before his wife died.
So be prepared to find things like that, I just find it intriguing.
Love the poem too.

[Temic]

Of course one has to keep an open mind and not jump to conclusions about the motives of our ancestors, etc.

With my lot, it's been the other way round - stories of scandalous infidelities that seem more than likely, in the light of my own research, to be half-remembered, recycled gossip from the time and... untrue. Which makes a change.

[dhj]

I've found more skeletons than you can shake a stick at. I try to take the philosophical view that what's done is done, I wasn't there so I don't know the facts behind what really happened. I have to say I get more upset when I find ancestors who perhaps had three girls all with the same name only to find that one died at birth another was born then died within a few months and third perhaps also died very young. I also have a couple of families where the majority of the family was in the workhouse and others where young men went off to war and never came back. I believe that by my doing this, those people haven't been forgotten and I can record at least a small portion of their lives to pass on to those who come after me. Another thought, my mum always said jokingly that my dad was a b*****d and, unfortunately, I later discovered she was right. Sadly, he died a few years ago but, such is life.

I'm afraid you will have to grow a thicker skin or maybe give this up.

[Kiki1958]

I am amazed, and humbled by the challenges my ancestors faced.  Some of the information I've found made me depressed--my great great great grandfather, who was sent to the Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum, in Abergavenny.  Some of my research showed the institution was run by a progressive doctor, Richard Glendenning, MD.  He banned alcohol rations, encouraged gardening, exercise, and a healthy diet for patients.  He published a treatise on the role of brain tumors in triggering mental illness. 

Don't you wonder what the ancestors would think of you?  Mine would say 'you have it easy' and to some extent, I do.