fascination with tracing your ancestors

steeljack · 30-11-2007, 07:03

OK, We have lots of posts on this site from folks looking for records of dead people . Someone explain to me, whats the fascination with tracing your ancestors ? , I used to think it was something that occupied insecure retired Americans , trying to justify some long lost hope hope that they were descended from royalty and not just some white trash who sailed the ocean either under a court warrant for being a thief or some poor itinerent trying to make a better life .
Now it seems everyone wants to know where they came from ...Why ?...........the past is gone .....the future hasn't happened ....we are only here now ....so who gives a dam if your 4th cousin twice removed (whatever that means) was the illigitimate son of the King of England .

WillowTheWhisp · 30-11-2007, 08:06

It's nothing to do with hoping to be related to royalty. It's just really fascinating once you get into it and start unravelling the threads. I haven't done any for a while but have some quite interesting discoveries and I even found living relatives in other parts of the world who I never knew existed.

entwisi · 30-11-2007, 08:35

I know very little about even as short a distance back as my Grandad as all my grandparents died before I was born. Having no immediate link to teh past means I know little of where I come from.

I find it interesting to understand just what sort of life these people had, where they lived, what they did for a living etc. As it will be SO different from what I do and what Siobhan will probably end up doing its quite weird to try and appreciate what life would have been like back then.

Of even more interest to me is hypnotic regression. I'd love to have this done. I'm not saying it isn't just some wild fantasy that my mind throws out or anything of real truth but I'd love to be video'd to see what happened.

WillowTheWhisp · 30-11-2007, 08:42

It was interesting when I traced my maternal grandfather's family back to a farm in Norfolk - it was called Willow Farm!

onlyme · 30-11-2007, 08:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by steeljack

OK, We have lots of posts on this site from folks looking for records of dead people . Someone explain to me, whats the fascination with tracing your ancestors ? , I used to think it was something that occupied insecure retired Americans , trying to justify some long lost hope hope that they were descended from royalty and not just some white trash who sailed the ocean either under a court warrant for being a thief or some poor itinerent trying to make a better life .
Now it seems everyone wants to know where they came from ...Why ?...........the past is gone .....the future hasn't happened ....we are only here now ....so who gives a dam if your 4th cousin twice removed (whatever that means) was the illigitimate son of the King of England .

Bit harsh that isnt it??? I'm not one for tracing ancesters, but admire the tenacity (and results), when someone manages to do so for a decent time span. Yes you may have to face some dark ancestral history or track record, but at the end of the day, its where we came from, and if we're all sat here now, thanks to them

cashman · 30-11-2007, 09:59

never really interested me either,steeljack,enough people have tried to trace me.

can understand why some do though.

Eric · 30-11-2007, 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

never really interested me either,steeljack,enough people have tried to trace me.

can understand why some do though.

For the reward?

cashman · 30-11-2007, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

For the reward?

that'd be telling

WillowTheWhisp · 30-11-2007, 14:41

It's similar to why I like looking at old photos of Accrington and seeing what life here was like back then even though my family didn't all come from here.

Uncle Mick · 30-11-2007, 19:54

I started doing my family tree because my uncle kept mentioning cousin this and auntie that and I hadn`t a clue who these people were and how we were related. As my uncle was housebound following a stroke, I would arrive every week with new discoveries and questions and he would rack his brains and entertain me with his stories.
Six months after starting my quest my uncle died but because of him I knew who to contact and how they were related. I visited these new relations and they added to his stories; one cousin produced photos I`d never seen before of my grandfather and grandmother, who died before I was born and of an uncle with a disturbingly striking resemblance to myself.
The point is that family history brings history to life and makes it personal. Both my parents died when I was in my early twenties and as you`re growing up you don`t think to ask about their lives... if I knew then what I know now
One of the oddest things is that my best friend from primary school and through secondary school is distantly related to me I`ve discovered, which may not be a good thing as he`s a nutcase!

Margaret Pilkington · 30-11-2007, 20:25

I liken it to trying to do a jigsaw puzzle without the picture......it takes a lot of time and ingenuity to track down the information.
I was able to tell my mother that her father was not born in South Africa,something which she had erroneously thought for more than 70 years.....I was able to tell her that he was born in Lincolnshire, that he had six other siblings, two of whom died in infancy.
OK, so it doesn't change anything practical in my life, or her life for that matter, but it does make history more realistic and more personal.
My family tree is on hold at the moment, but I am sure that I will go back to it.

WillowTheWhisp · 30-11-2007, 22:51

A friend of mine was doing his family tree but couldn't find anything about his mother or her family - until he discovered that she was born in Germany and not as he'd thought in Holland. Then it dawned on him that he was half German!!!

blazey · 30-11-2007, 23:17

Off topic but there was something recently in the news about old directories being found of peoples old addresses and they mentioned it would be highly interesting to those who where interested in tracing their ancestors. I only wish I could remember where I read/saw it now, because I'm sure many people on here would find it interesting but I only just thought of that now.

cmonstanley · 30-11-2007, 23:38

our past is our future..

ossy kid · 01-12-2007, 06:49

I,ve been doing the family trees for about 10 years and, as has been said by others, we were brought up in a time of "secrets" no one talked about their past, it was a dark secret. It,s fascinating to discover that your gt grandad was an old lamplighter and "knocker upper". And that an uncle was married to a French woman and lived in Lille and that now his four kids live in Quebec. It gives continuity to to your family, the biggest problem is that it is addictive.