About a year ago, as some of you may remember, I was lured into amateur genealogy by Cranky (Ex-) Boss Lady's Daughter who asked for help tracing their Cranky family tree on Ancestry.com. Since then, Cranky (Ex-) Boss Lady has gotten to know a half-brother she never knew she had and I have developed a full-blown genealogy obsession of my own. (First byproduct of this obsession: I can finally, at the ripe-old age of 44, spell genealogy right on the first try approximately 84.5% of the time.)
I have spent absurd amounts of time (and some of my own money now) on Ancestry.com and have recently begun conducting real world records searches by mail. Even as I am in the midst of some three-hour-long feverish binge, scanning census records for clues until I'm bleary-eyed, I sometimes wonder what the attraction is.
I think part of it is the puzzle-solving aspect--piecing together scraps of information to get one step further back. And part of it is the music of all those names: Benajah Main, Weltha Ann Robbins, Godsgrace King, Zilpha Keyes, Tryntje Melchiors, Alanson Fosset. As enamored as I am of some of the names lurking in my family tree, it's probably a good thing for all involved that my children were named before I discovered genealogy.
The names and the mystery are only part of genealogy's allure, though. I think the real heart of my passion for digging around in my roots is discovering my place in my family's little sliver of history. As Melanie over at Is This The Middle? recently said, in her post of the same name, "...everyone comes from an 'old family.'" As someone who grew up everywhere, who craves permanence still, finding my place in long lines that can be traced to the distant past offers a tremendous sense of comfort. I take great joy in knowing my dead relatives are always right where I left them.
R is for Roots
My Joy My Ross
2 months ago
I had my obsession with Ancestry.com a few years ago. And obsession is the word.
ReplyDeleteSurnames and first names for that matter in our family creates a huge stumbling block. That is because second cousins married each other way back then. So, for instance my grandmother's maiden name is the same as my grandfather's mother's maiden name. I know, HUH?
Every once in a while, when I get the bug, I will join Ancestry for a few months, just to play around.
That name thing sounds familiar as my maternal grandfather's parents had the same last name before they were married. It is not at all clear how closely the two families were related, but it's pretty clear that they were since both came from the same part of Connecticut and settled in the same part of Pennsylvania. I've ruled out first cousins, which is a relief. :)
DeleteMy mom is really into genealogy and has found a wealth of information through the Mormon church library (no, we're not Mormon, they just kept excellent records) and I've been helping her get old German town registry books through inter-library loan at the school I work at. It's kind of cool, like detective work.
ReplyDeleteDetective work, for sure. German town registries sound very intriguing to me since I do not have to go very far back on my father's side to end up in Germany on three separate lines.
DeleteI was drafted into the genealogy thing when I retired. A cousin thought I needed something to do. I have to give myself breaks or I will go stir crazy. If I am honest, I love following the backward trail.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely identify with the breaks. I have been working on my own tree, my husband's tree and my ex-boss's family off and on for a year. I find I tend to go in binges--sometimes staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning trying to untangle a particularly stubborn knot. After a couple of nights like that, I swear off it for a month or so. Just for the sake of my sanity.
DeleteMM
ReplyDeleteI wanted you to know I nominated you for a blog award. Just thought you should be appreciated for a fun and well written site!
Thanks again, Zoe. :)
DeleteMy Dad is really into genealogy (that is a tough word!) and I love hearing about all the people he's found out about. I just wish there was more information than names, dates, and professions. Maybe one day my ancestors will be able to read all my blog ramblings.
ReplyDeletecoffintreehill.tumblr.com
I know what you mean about information--sometimes seeing all those names feels like a tease. Every once in a while, I stumble upon a will or something that is surprisingly telling about the quality of certain family relationships. When one daughter gets 15 acres of land and the other gets the silverware, it definitely says something. ;)
Deletei have really wanted to do this!!
ReplyDeleteAncestry.com is a good place to start--it's expensive, but the amount of information available is astounding and it would cost you much more (not just in money, but in time) to do the records searches individually. As someone told me shortly after I started, though, Ancestry.com is often just the beginning, because once you go down the rabbit hole, you crave more and more information. At this point, I have developed email relationships with court clerks in counties where my relatives were clustered.
DeleteI dabble in ancestry, too - so much that 2 of my published novels (published in 2011 and 2012) are ancestral mysteries. Both of those needed a 'family tree' designed, which I loved creating. Had I not got involved in my own family research those books would not have been written. When I've completed my current WIP, which is a historical sequel, I'll be picking up my family saga again(sitting at around 14 thousand words) which is based (very loosely) on my own family background. While doing my family reserches I found out some really surprising info which is definitely the stuff of a book starting in the 1850s. Nancy at Welcome to she said, he said
ReplyDeleteI love that genealogy has influenced your work and vice versa. That idea is very appealing to me--if/when I am able to cut back on my "day job" hours, that's something I would like to do as well.
DeleteMy Grandpa wrote and self published a book on the history of our family's homestead and the surrounding neighborhood. We've all heard the family lore, but to read what he remembered from growing up has been an intensely wonderful experience.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool, Michelle. What a treasure that book will be to future generations as well.
DeleteIs it strange that I have very little interest in my family's history? I am pretty rootless myself with the moving and the whatnot, but I think the part of me that's interested in ancestry is broken. I read your posts and the comments and wonder at it like it is written in another language whose words I can't quite grasp.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's strange at all. I'd only had the vaguest interest in it for most of my life. I don't know if I ever would've pursued it on my own, but once I was sucked into the vortex of Ancestry.com, I was a goner.
Delete