I have always wondered if I could actually put in the time and effort to track back into my family's past. I know a bit about both sides of my family for four or five generations, due to stories my mom and dad told over the years. But, I suppose we never quite know what kind of life some of out ancestors had. I thought this was rather a sad thing to find out about those of your family that came before you:
There were a few reasons that I started to research my family tree. First, I was inspired by my uncle's research on my mother's side of the family and intrigued by the story of one girl in particular. She would have been a multiple great-aunt. She was born in the l890's and died around the age of sixteen. Most of her years were spent in a workhouse in Wales. I can only imagine the level of poverty and desperation that led her mother to leave four of her seven children at the workhouse. The girl was about three when she entered and sixteen when she died there. I suspect her life held little happiness or love. There are no children to remember her, no grandchildren to tend her grave, but because of my uncle's research, she is not forgotten. Someone knows, and cares, that she once existed.But then that final statement shows what kind of rewards you can receive and the rewards you might be able to give to those who you had no knowledge of if you had not taken the time to find out. Posted by Tiger at August 9, 2003 08:32 PM | TrackBack