One of the things about genealogy is that it helps make you aware of the passage of time and the value of the time we have with the people we love. We feel a self-imposed pressure to complete our family history, or some project, in time to share with someone whose age makes it more urgent.
Doing genealogy also can bring me a little comfort in times of sadness. The recent loss of a shining little girl becomes more bearable as I recall ancestors who lost children too young and too cruelly. A quick tour through any cemetery will remind us of how lucky we are to have known children who grew and fulfilled the promise of their youth.
This simple act of sharing with ancestors now gone lessens my sadness and reminds me to value what I have left. And so, I look forward to the holiday season ahead of me — humbled and grateful and holding tightly to the joy that life offers.
I think I have finally figured out what drives me to continue with family history. It is the human-ness of it all. It is learning their stories, of finding things in common to help me feel part of people to whom I am attached, but who I never knew. And now there are so many great tools to help me share those stories. To help bring these people back to life for others, if only for moments. I want to know that they, and I, can be more than names and dates on a forgotten tombstone. It keeps me from wallowing, when I am able to combine the sad stories of loss with the happy stories of families growing, and achieving.
The last class I taught was about putting those stories into book format. One of my students is rushing to complete her strongly Irish story in time for a Christmas gift. Another is trying to compile the many documents left by her ancestors so her descendants can make some sense of all the paper, and know them as she knew them.
The books are a wonderful way to do both of those things. There are short and sweet ways to tell pieces of the story too. Right now I am working on a poster showing all the descendants of one couple: seven children, 19 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren!
There is time to create and frame pedigree charts and style them for anyone from your elderly grandmother to a young nephew. Even Disney has created some Pooh and Tigger-filled samples to use! Have a scrap of lace from Nana’s ball gown? Frame it with a photo of your daughter’s prom dress. Found your son’s bib? Make a shadow box for his pregnant daughter with a photo of him in the bib. My friend put her grandson in the sweater she had long ago made for her son and gifted him the framed photo.
Use your imagination. There is so much in one person’s life, and genealogy can help us to learn, to know, to remember; in the words of Jimmy Stewart: “It’s a Wonderful Life!”
Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft is a longtime genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. Her column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society which meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at Cary Medical Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
