Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Family Tree

I've been working on our Family tree now for quite awhile. Talking to family members about various details, inquiring about names etc.

I have reached as far as my husband's great grandparents as well as my own although my great Aunt has records tracing back to the 1700's on my mother's paternal side! I am in the middle of retrieving those as we speak. The children, their children, etc have all been accounted for. Right now I'm just filling in the blanks with dates.

Hopefully in time, I will be able to trace them further. Apparently my husband has Eastern influences far back into his past and there is a Baron dating way back in mine from Italian ancestors. My goal is trace it back as far as possible. It is something I've always wanted for our girls. A history of their ancestors on both sides of our family.

There is a mystery though when I look at those papers. A death certificate with my Uncle's name on it. An Uncle who would throw me up into the air as a little girl, tickling me until I couldn't breath. His life is now recorded on a piece of paper.

My father in law's father's record of marriage. Signatures and records from the past. All these dates and signatures which record our history in time. But then there are still the stories of their lives. Some mighty painful, some not so lovely and some happy times. Do you record them while being honest and true to the person, or do you leave those stories in the past? I don't know.

For now I think I will just stick to the dates...

1 comment:

Beck said...

Tracing family trees are fun, unless you become unhinged like my mother-in-law and decide that you need a crest because SOMEONE TRACED SOMEONE BACK TO AN ILLIGIMATE CHILD OF ROYALTY ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
ONE. THOUSAND.
HAHAH!
I traced our family tree back quite far. It was fun! As was seeing you yesterday.