<p>Suppose you are into family genealogy and have done research in historical societies, visited homesteads and churchs, taken loads of photographs, read about the times, problems, conditions, etc. of all your ancestors and have documented everything. Suppose you have done this and have made huge, expensive, albums with copies of everything for all your kids. What if they aren’t interested? I’m just wondering if it is wrong to express my passion for the past by preparing something for others in the family. Would it be better to simply write a history book instead? I wonder.</p>
<p>If you take joy in the doing of it, why should you care what your kids think? If they do not appreciate your efforts now, perhaps they will later in life. If not, perhaps one of your grandchildren will.</p>
<p>BassDad is right imo. </p>
<p>And even if your own family isn’t interested at this time, you are supporting and encouraging those historical societies, homesteads, churches and historians through your own interest and involvement.</p>
<p>I have done genealogy research for longer than I’ve been married (which is 26 years this month.) For most of those years, my family rolled their collective eyes! As my parents aged, it became more important to them. As my siblings have grown up, they complain that the only reason I “get all the stuff” is because I am the only one who has time to do the research. For years, my kids complained that Mom spent all our vacations looking at cemeteries. (Which is not true, by the way!) My Google people-finder skills are so well-known, I get lots of requests to help find people. I should open a detective agency.</p>
<p>When we lived in Europe, I took my kids to the ancestral homes of multiple branches. We met second, third, and more distant cousins. We were welcomed to places in Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden by folks who treated us like prodigal children. My kids are believers now. They send me emails when they meet someone with a shared name, asking if/how we’re related. </p>
<p>So give your family time. They’ll get there!</p>
<p>When you’re researching your family roots, what’s one generation? </p>
<p>My grandmother kept everything - every letter, every postcard. Not one of her kids ever developed the slightest interest. Then I came along, and it took me 40 years to get interested. But I am definitely interested now, and I bless every cobweb I have to remove in order to get to the old documents my grandmother carefully put aside in the attic. You may not have kids who are interested - or even grandkids. But one day, someone will bless your name for doing research for the family.</p>
<p>Your kids will likely be interested later in their lives. Even if they are not, their kids may be. In the end though, if you enjoyed it and found it interesting, that’s all that matters. I suspect, though, that someone else will benefit from your recorded research sometime in the future.</p>
<p>Why not do all of the above? You can give your children the lovely albums, realizing they may not be read for decades; you can produce another document to share with far flung relatives; and if you think it would be of general interest, you can still write that book. </p>
<p>I have a brother who never cared about family stories until he was over 55. Now he spends a great deal of time researching, including sometimes picking my brain for recollections of family history. He has no children, but that hasn’t stopped him from enjoying his new found passion. Maybe a niece or nephew will one day be glad he did all that research.</p>
<p>My sister does the research ( she is Mormon- she has to spend all the time she can doing it- when she isn’t bidding for 12 place settings on ebay that is)')</p>
<p>I am not that interested- although I have spent a few hours( I have dial up) :D, finding out about where my maternal grandparents were from ( I was closer to them than my parents)- a tiny community in rural MO- 99.07 Caucasian- which explained a bit about their perspective.</p>
<p>But I expect at some point I might ask my sister a few questions- or ask to see some of her research , at least to give us a neutral subject of discussion.</p>
<p>However- I don’t expect my kids to share my interests- & I don’t spend time on them expecting them to.
It would be fun if they did, but I don’t share many of their interests either.</p>
<p>I think it is great that you have found something that you enjoy, and even better that you have enough for each to have their own, but we “can’t change others- we can only change ourselves”.</p>
<p>I can’t even get my daughter to take her own books and things to where she is living now, let alone any furniture that I “saved” for her, so just give them time. Perhaps eventually one of them will share your interest.</p>
<p>I also noticed that many areas, of the country are interested in anyone who has historical information/pictures etc, to share. We are so nomadic, that the history is being lost & any help towards regaining it is valued.</p>
<p>Oh - absolutely! There are always nieces, nephews and cousins out there - and if not them - than their children. </p>
<p>And who knows - one of your kids - or their spouses may get sucked in too!</p>
<p>My father-in-law just brought us a box of stuff last weekend that belonged to his dad. He has no interest in it at all, but we were delighted to get it. There were love letters written from H’s grandfather to his grandmother in the 1930’s, photos from the 1800’s (some of which have no names…<grrr>), and some typed out family history stuff from who-knows-when. In short, it’s a treasure trove. Grandfather saved it all, even though his son couldn’t have cared less. Someday, someone is going to be delighted with your treasure trove! Oh…and to make sure they do, be sure to xerox everything and put a copy in a safe deposit box or at least at someone else’s house so that your work isn’t all destroyed by a fire someday!</grrr></p>
<p>My mother is very knowledgeable about geneaology and family histories, as it relates to the business she’s in. I’ve always been fascinated by it, although in a peripheral manner, not doing the research myself. I am, however, in the process of compiling a memory book for each of my Ds with my family’s history. They may not appreciate the opportunity to have this information now (just a guess, because they don’t know I’m doing it!) but someday I hope they will. </p>
<p>EK, by the way, the Mormons are probably the most influential (and admired) group in the world for people who do genaeological research. Their record-keeping is amazing. :)</p>
<p>My hubby LOVES doing geneology. He loves the history, the fact finding, the puzzle solving. He thinks he might a write a book in the not too distant future about all the early settlers in the area of the country where my family first immigrated. The fact that our boys are not interested doesn’t bother him at all. It is his hobby that he does because he loves it. That is enough for me.</p>
<p>When we drive through a new town I always have to ask him if we know any dead people here? :)</p>
<p>alwaysamom, you’re right - the Mormons do a wonderful job of maintaining genealogical documents and records in the Library in Salt Lake City. Many of these are available at local genealogical libraries in certain local Mormon churches via microfiche. There is a very strong religious reason for this:</p>
<p>The Mormons, not being a mainstream Christian denomination (by which I mean they do not accept the Trinity or other defining Christian tenets), do not accept Christian baptism, as opposed to Catholics and Protestants who all accept each others’ sacraments. So believers must be baptized Mormon. Mormons also believe in baptizing people after they have died. Therefore, the Mormons are very eager to research their families, identify their ancestors, and baptize them. The Mormons I have met have been extremely generous and helpful in sharing all their documents and the contents of their libraries.</p>
<p>shennie - I know the feeling ! When I go into a cemetery it can be like meeting old friends.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all these wonderful posts!</p>
<p>The problem right now is they are set to bulldoze my gt gt grandfather’s farm. He was born 1800. And I’m having a heck of a time getting my sons to make time to go see the place before the ax falls. It’s so so sad. Surburban sprawl has finally hit the quaint Pennsylvania town nestled in rolling hills. It will soon look like any other major busy road with too much fast traffic and shopping centers and business parks every 300 yards.And some people will get very rich. But so much is lost.</p>
<p>Backhandgrip – my husband’s family’s farmhouse was bulldozed last year. It was built by H’s great-grandfather. I visited only once, about 24 years ago. I took pictures, but now wish I had taken many more! Especially of the inside. So go, take photos, take video. If your kids aren’t interested now, at least there will be a good photo record for those who care in the future.</p>
<p>Concerning the Mormon research: Here is the link to the online searchable material. The caveat is that this is a good starting place, but records are often inaccurate, and need to be documented elsewhere (like via census records, etc.) Local reading rooms can get the microfilm for viewing, and are open to the public.
<a href=“http://www.familysearch.org/ENG/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=search_all1.asp&clear_form=true[/url]”>http://www.familysearch.org/ENG/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=search_all1.asp&clear_form=true</a></p>
<p>If someone had told me when I was 18 years old that I would end up as the family historian I would have laughed. I had absolutely no interest. I don’t think I really cared until after my children were born. It’s like a giant maze or puzzle to be solved. I’m hooked. I do it for me and I do it in hopes that someday someone else will really be interested. I get the eye rolls from family members too, but I also get requests for copies of our family trees. And - grgrgrgr grandfather Ephraim, if you read this, please come out from behind your brick wall!</p>
<p>backhandgrip- start the car, throw the boys in and take them to see the farm!
JK, but keep trying before the bulldozer! My h’s family has the oldest thatch-roofed cottage in western Ireland. His cousin still lives in it, now with a tiled floor, plumbing and windows. The Irish government helps subsidizes the upkeep of the thatch. The local cemetery has his family’s gravesites back to the 1700s. It was priceless for my children to experience visiting (many times), and they have such an interest in their family and family history because of seeing it first hand. They have learned Gaelic as well, which is spoken in h’s family.</p>
<p>You are doing an amazing service for your family with your historical documentation. They (or some of them) WILL appreciate this someday. Now go get the boys and go to the farm!</p>
<p>My MIL was her family historian. She died suddenly 10 years ago, but now her D has taken up the research again. She had a very interesting family, one branch of which went back to the Mayflower. Her great-grandma lived to 103 and there was a popular book (I believe it was serialized in Atlantic Monthly? back in the 1930s) called “Grandmother Brown’s Hundred Years” written about her life. If you are interested in American history from 1820-1920 from a woman’s perspective, it is a well-written book. </p>
<p>FIL died recently and H and sibs cleaned out his house in Memphis last weekend. OMG–all kinds of notes and documents tucked into old books, etc. Fascinating. Colorful Irish/Cajun family. FIL’s relatives lost everything in Katrina (his 96yo sister’s life story in 17 hand-written notebooks–painful). Anyway, they will be able to copy some things they found and give them to their cousins in N.O.
My ancestors were 20th century immigrants. No one even knows the names of anyone beyond grands on dad’s side and greats on mom’s side.<br>
No one has tried to do research. They were peasants, so I doubt there is anything to find. I got a nice Christmas gift from a cousin last year–he found an old tape recording of relatives sitting around talking after a holiday dinner back in the early 70’s and he copied it onto CDs for everyone. It was made only a couple months before grandpa died. Wow–it was so amazing to hear voices of people long dead. </p>
<p>(Family farms being bulldozed 
--My bro. and family are 5th generation at his wife’s family farm).</p>
<p>BHG - I can relate! Somehow I have morphed into The Family Historian for both my family and my husband’s, and so far there are no potential candidates to carry the torch into the future. My own D never has yet to show any interest, but then again, I didnt care about “those dead people” when I was a teenager either.</p>
<p>Although now, I could kick myself for not paying closer attention to my great-grandparents’ stories back when they were still alive.</p>
<p>I have found that my own family members are much more interested in copies of old photos - nothing like those stiff poses of Great-great-grandpa in his CSA uniform. Also, people love to hear about the old scandals. Talk about colorful! </p>
<p>As a last resort, I’m also considering donating some of my research to local historical or genealogical societies. They usually LOVE family histories of long-time county residents, and the information could be very useful to others researching allied families. It’s one way to “guarantee” that your work will be appreciated by someone, even if it"s not a family member. And it’s also a way for me to pay back those volunteers who’ve helped me out with long-distance research.</p>
<p>Really interesting comments here. Thank you. I will grab the boys and take them .One son has off a few days and took off with a college friend to visit other college friends. He is SO happpy with his college. I’m SO glad this worked out. The kids at the school are not top. but they are really sophistocated N.Y/N.J. metro area kids and I like what is being rubbed off on son. YOu can’t pull something over on these kids.They are as shrewd as their parents. So , go to Long Island, I’ll pull you into the car and out to the farm next week!</p>