To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.
- Chinese proverb
How many of you can name all of your eight great grandparents? That’s the question posed by Dr. Barry Baines at one of his Ethical Will Workshops. I must admit I can only name one. How about you? Probably very few – right? Think for a moment. If you don’t do something to preserve and record your life story then your children’s grandchildren will not know your name. Pretty sobering isn’t it? What are you doing to ensure that your name isn’t forgotten?
Photo by David Fielke
Share this post:
I also think that everyone should write a personal history for the benefit of our successors.
I can name seven great-grandparents and go back further with some lines. Am now using a family history page on my blog in the hope of tracing more information.
http://justwilliams.wordpress.com
Well, I’d have to pull up my FamilyTree Maker program, but I think I have them all recorded. Off the top of my head I can name 3. My one surviving aunt was very puzzled when I spoke with her on the phone about the family, asking all kinds of questions about them. She just didn’t understand why I wanted to know all that, what I was going to do with the information. It was a little peculiar.
@Digital Dame. Thanks for your comments. I understand that you’d find your aunt’s remarks a little peculiar. But I don’t think your aunt’s response is an uncommon one. The idea of recording and preserving family stories is still, for many people, a novel idea. It’s something they may not have even thought about. Good for you though to ask the questions. Are you putting any of the information you glean into some kind of document?
I’m just putting it all in the FamilyTreeMaker program for now. I printed out what I have so far (in the “tree” style) and sent it to a couple of my sisters who were floored at how much info I had. They had known for years that I was trying to research the family, and basically poo-poo’ed my efforts, until they saw how much it now amounts to
My aunt’s reaction was odder than you know. She’s the one in the family who always kept track of cousins, aunts, etc., the one who knew everything about the family and where they came from, when, etc. So for her to be almost suspicious of my motives was really puzzling.
@Digital Dame. You’re right about the “oddness” of your Aunt’s response. Perhaps she feels threatened by your encroaching on what she sees as her territory. Just a guess.