15.12.10

I Know Who I Am

I don't watch TV.  There are exceptions to that rule, such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (gotta see the Rockettes), some sporting events (depending on how my teams are doing), and all of the Charlie Brown holiday shows.  Most TV shows that I've seen are shown via the computer, either Hulu, YouTube, or straight from the show's website.

Although there's one show that I did want to watch last year, even though most of that viewing was after the televised time and viewed directly from the show's website.  "Who Do You Think You Are?"  It's coming back this fall with more stories of family roots.  Learning about celebrities' family trees can be entertaining, but I watch the show for clues of how to search for my own family. 

At what point is my research complete?  It probably will never be complete.  There will always be the proverbial brick wall of an ancestor that I will swear was dropped off by aliens.  It's been said that our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.  My children know me; hopefully I'll be around for my grandchildren to know me.  Two hundred years from now, I hope one of my descendants will have a genealogical chart where I am listed.  And possibly know where my grave is and place flowers on it in my memory and in thanksgiving that, without me, that man or woman would not be standing there.  Much as I have done at countless graves of my ancestors.




5 comments:

  1. nice post.
    beautiful picture.

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  2. Who Do You Think You Are is such an interesting show! If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have known it was coming back, and I'm glad to hear that. Tracing roots starts out pretty easy, but getting back 4 and 5 generations gets tougher. Farther makes you crazy but SO worth it. Write down every name you can get from other family members now and then try joining Ancestry.com
    LOTS of info there and at least you can then know what courthouses to frequest and what libraries to attend. The thing is, when you start this, it's almost impossible to stop and it takes every minute of concentration. Yep, you're talking to a former addict, lol. But that's a whole 'nother story :D
    XOXOXO

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  3. This can be a fraught question.

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  4. One of my boys traced us back to the 16th century, That's not far really and he got too full of his own life and experiences that he had to put it on the back burner. The DAR papers helped, actually.

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  5. That show was interesting but I got aggravated that those celebrities pretended to be searching for their ancestors but it was all being done for them. Pffft. Cheaters.

    I wonder if we're related. My people settled in Florence, AL before some of them moved on to East Texas. My great-great-grandfather fought for Alabama in the Civil War.

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