It's been really cool this week so I have spent my days indoors. I have been
back at it, sorting through old pictures and working on my family history.
I only pay
for Ancestry.ca for a few months per year.
I try to do other research, scan in old pictures, rely on the research
of other family members, etc. for the rest of the time. Then I pay for Ancestry.ca for a month at a
time and research all the questions and gaps that have come up during the time
I am not paying for it.
The family stories are, quite often, far more
interesting than the mundane truth that you find in the records, but sometimes
the records will reveal something far more interesting than the family has ever
told you or even want to admit. Families
are inclined to elaborate on some stories, to make them a little more
interesting. They will leave out details
that they are possibly embarrassed of or have forgotten about. But it is the stuff that they leave out or
try to hide that is usually the most interesting part of the family
history. The older generations would in
no way tell you about an uncle or cousin that was “Gay”, because they would
have considered them odd by the standards of their days and they would have
been completely fine and acceptable nowadays.
But the records will show many arranged marriages between 40 year old
men and young girls barely out of puberty and they think that is OK or they think nothing of it, but we are
horrified by it today. I have found over
the years of doing this Ancestry research that you think you know a little
about your family from the stories you’ve heard along the way, growing up, but
I will tell you from experience, DIG DEEP, because what you think you know is probably
all wrong.
