Genealogy is fun. I like to find the stories and evidence of the people who came before me. I like to rummage around in the attic of my ancestors and see where they lived and what was going on in their lives and their locations. Sometimes I find little gems of glistening purity that ties me to them, and sometimes I find a scoundrel hiding behind four wives and 9 children and not a divorce in sight.
Oh, yes, I have to claim Cambell as a forebear. It does not fill me with pride that he blazed a trail, and I have not followed in his footsteps, but his first wife was a gem. She raised that mob of children he left when he went in search of other prey, or other wives. She sounds like the pioneer wife we read about in history books and family memorabilia, who "held her word and kept her troth/and cleared the forest and tamed the wild/ and gave the breast to the new born child."*
Genealogy may mark family traits and traditions you want to claim or those you would like to change. I have found both. I like the association I find in my family history with the people who farmed and moved west, at least as far as Texas.They were hardworking pioneers, and with the exception of Campbell, honest and faithful. Even Campbell was a farmer, but I don't know how successful he was at it. His wife did pretty well for herself.
Getting older is sort of a stimulus to researching the family roots. Now I have grandchildren that engage in the history projects in school, and I am an expert for their study. It's kinda nice to have all this knowledge and power. Of course, I have to be honest about Campbell.
*Quote from John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet
Oh, yes, I have to claim Cambell as a forebear. It does not fill me with pride that he blazed a trail, and I have not followed in his footsteps, but his first wife was a gem. She raised that mob of children he left when he went in search of other prey, or other wives. She sounds like the pioneer wife we read about in history books and family memorabilia, who "held her word and kept her troth/and cleared the forest and tamed the wild/ and gave the breast to the new born child."*
Genealogy may mark family traits and traditions you want to claim or those you would like to change. I have found both. I like the association I find in my family history with the people who farmed and moved west, at least as far as Texas.They were hardworking pioneers, and with the exception of Campbell, honest and faithful. Even Campbell was a farmer, but I don't know how successful he was at it. His wife did pretty well for herself.
Getting older is sort of a stimulus to researching the family roots. Now I have grandchildren that engage in the history projects in school, and I am an expert for their study. It's kinda nice to have all this knowledge and power. Of course, I have to be honest about Campbell.
*Quote from John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet
