Half your pedigree chart is made up of mothers. Granted, only one of those names represents your own mother, but the rest of that fifty percent are mothers, nonetheless. I think it is safe to say that, if you are engaged in the pursuit of genealogy, it might have been a mother's tale about your family history which inspired you. I know it has been for me.
As silent as my father was about his own origins, my mother was full of stories passed down to her from older relatives. It was those treasures which inspired me to begin writing this blog—to research and confirm those stories I heard from my childhood and then commit them to writing in some shareable form, as a way of connecting with others who remembered hearing those stories, too.
The more I delve into the branches of my extended family, the more I realize that every life represents a story. It is stories which fascinate and, in that very human compulsion to hear what happened next, at the same time draw us in to not just the players in the story, but the storyteller, as well. Stories connect. In multiple ways.
Over the many generations in which mothers have shared stories, their effective tool not only engages our interest and our imagination, but draws us closer to that storyteller, too. We may not remember our mother for how many loads of laundry she processed in her domestic engineer career, but in the spark of those moments when our lives created stories together: for those, we remember—a valuable reminder, in our rush and busy-ness to accomplish (or at least not fall behind), which ones are the moments which bring a lasting impact.
For those of you who belong to that fifty percent of your pedigree chart who represent your family's mothers, I hope today brings you a happy Mother's Day. For all of us, I hope today brings a chance to reflect on when a mother in your life brought the spark which created those meaningful stories for your family.
Happy Mother's Day. I hope my blog has enough family history to interest one of my grands or great grands someday. My 19 year old grandson reports that he like to read about the "old days" :) That makes me smile:)
ReplyDeleteNow, that sounds promising, Far Side! Hopefully, one of your grands will be inspired to take up the mantle and continue with your research. It's wonderful that you've already put so many of your family's stories online in your blog.
DeleteHappy Mother's Day! I am eyeing my 10 grandchildren to see who to train to take over. I favorite searches are the mothers and the women who didn't have children to keep their memories. I make sure to find every document and fact to add to my tree.
ReplyDeleteThat is so wonderful that you have taken on a project like that, Miss Merry! With such a wonderful group of grandchildren, surely some of them will become inspired to partner with you in your research.
DeleteHappy Mother's Day! Yes - my mother was a family historian. My dad wasn't interested in his family history at all, so luckily my mom kept in touch with his extended family too and collected some good genealogy info.
ReplyDeleteSara, you are fortunate your mother was motivated to gather the family history on your father's side as well--and that the members of your paternal side were willing to share so much information that could be passed down to you. What a legacy!
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