Genealogy and emptiness?

Question

When you are unable, due to insufficient records, loss of family and friends that could help you, time, money, etc., to compile a complete, or near complete, sense of where your family came from, even down to the etymology of the surnames in your family tree, do you feel a sense of incompleteness? Does it make you feel empty?

Answer 1

Actually I used some of the forums listed at http://home.austin.rr.com/alloy/findyourfamily.html and found people who were at the time complete strangers to me, who helped fill in some of the gaps.

Answer 2

I've run into a few insufficient records, but I just set it aside and work on another side of the family. What makes me feel empty is that I can't find a publisher who is interested in my family story enough to put it out there for others to read. That makes me feel empty. But doing my own Genealogy makes me feel good, and I know who I am, where I came from, my family history, and why I do what I do.

Answer 3

I have felt that way. I did not know who my biological father was until I was 37 years old. My mother did not tell me until about 4 weeks before her death and offered no explanation why she never told me. I had always felt misplaced and different from my siblings. I have now found my father and I am learning more about my heritage every day and it's very exciting.
Now I know I am VERY Irish and 1/16 American Indian.
Don't despare too much, we live for the time we are born in anyway. (I doubt I would have said that 2 years ago.)

Smiles to you!

Answer 4

I have no long list of ancestors and don't care to have one. I knew my paternal grandmother and my maternal grandfather. I knew 8 aunts and uncles and dozens of cousins. I know my parents and my siblings and my own children. Knowing the names of a lot of dead people and when/where they lived/died will add nothing to my life.
I am sorry if you feel an emptiness at the lack of a family history. I wish you could find fulfillment in your present and the people that you love today.

Answer 5

Ours will never be complete because no one knows who my grandfathers (my dad's dad) real dad was. His mother refused to tell anyone and took it to the grave with her. We're pretty sure that it was an Indian man but not sure who he was. So we actually don't know what our last name really should be. Kind of sad really. You know that you have other relatives out there but have no idea who the are.

We have traced one back to Ireland and one back to Sweden and the others are just back to my great or great great grandparents and both of these had Indian heritage.

Answer 6

it seems like my people just suddenly appeared.there are very few records of my grandparents. even fewer on my great-grandparents.i know they are welsh and cherokee. no one kept good records then. even less on indians.

Answer 7

................No.