Family Trees

Many pride themselves on their ancestors. Some can go back two or three generations without a Family Tree. Let me introduce you to Wally. He can go back generations to his great grandparents on both sides. Here in part is what he told me.

I inherited my brown eyes from my great grandmother, my nose from my maternal grandfather, my ears from my father and my stature from my great grandfather. I was born after a difficult delivery which made it impossible for my mother to have any more children. We adopted two siblings and they have been a tremendous joy to our family.

My adopted sister was stricken with a mysterious disease and we almost lost her. However, we were able to locate her birth mother anonymously and discovered that several of her relatives also had this same malady. This caused us to have her younger brother tested and he too possessed this hidden gene which was treated before it became active.

I have added more crucial information to our Family Tree. We know that my younger brother is armed with information he will find useful when he gets older and establishes his own lineage. Now you can see why keeping a family history is so important.

Thanks, Wally. How right you are. It is one thing to begin a Family Tree. It is quite another to maintain accurate records and pertinent information on a variety of subjects. Many good intentions seem to fall by the wayside as it takes time, effort and know-how to keep genealogies alive.

When this was told to some neighboring grandparents, the response was quite unexpected. The grandfather said sadly, "Until now I had no serious interest in my lineage. Now I do. I've got some work to do. There are some neglected things my extended family ought to know. Thanks for sparing me from a possible senior moment I really wouldn't want."