If You Ever Want to Know, Ask Now!

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The stories of your family and the people you come from are locked away in your elders’ minds. The holiday season is the perfect time to ask them, “Who am I and who did I come from?” If you don’t think the answers will be very interesting, just hold on to your hat! There’s a show on TLC called “Who Do You Think You Are?” and it’s fascinating what these people learn about their ancestors.

I am very glad I was a curious child. I didn’t get to see my grandparents often but when I did I was constantly asking questions. I wish I would have written down all their answers. Now it’s too late. Or is it? Sometimes just one name can open up a whole slew of dead relatives!

Yes, I’ve been bitten by the genealogy bug. I just love finding a new dead relative back in my family tree. My cousin Donna had a head start on me. She had lots of answers and I’m so thankful for all the research she has done. However, she hit a roadblock and one name I knew opened a huge door into more and more of our dead relatives. It helped that it was kind of unique. The name I knew had come from my granny when I was asking her about dead relatives — Maneurvy.

Exploring Ancestry

Recently, I started watching a show on satellite on finding your roots. Actually, I’ve started watching two. One is on PBS and the other on TLC. They follow some celebrities on their path to finding their own family tree. Some have found their people actually come from a part of the world they had no knowledge about. Some of the relatives did remarkable things while others were pretty much scoundrels, but it’s all fascinating.

I have been using a free website and I’ve found hundreds of my dead relatives dating back to the 800 A.D. Now that’s a lot of greats!

I was born in California, but always considered myself an Okie by birth. All my more recent relatives come from Oklahoma but I found our family has really been around, if you know what I mean.

Where do you believe your roots and people came from? Do you know who was the first of your family to come to America? I did know my daddy’s people. My third great granddaddy came from Ireland with his bride. I didn’t know I had a relative that started out in the New World at Plymouth Colony! Imagine that! I didn’t know that I had a great granddaddy that was full-blooded Choctaw.

Understanding Your Roots

So what’s the value of knowing who you come from? You’ll never know until you find out just who you have come from. It has given me a sense of belonging to more people than I ever imagined possible. I also find it remarkable that these forefathers endured in times of great peril and harsh living conditions. It they made it . . . way back then, then I have not one reason to complain about my lot in life. Indeed, I have generation after generation of people who not only survived, but thrived and did marvelous things.

Don’t wait another month or year to start asking your own question. I strongly suggest you take notes. You want every snippet of information that your elders have.

It will be a gift from them to you and then you’ll have another legacy to leave to future generations. Priceless!

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