Do you wish now that you had listened when your parents and grandparents tried to tell you family history?

Question

I sure do!

I wish I had listened as my parents are both deceased and our history is only known to the ages.

The Underground Railroad has been traced through the area of PA in which I now live.

You all have given such wonderful answers that choosing a best one will be very difficult. I am amazed at the # of answers!

I am in awe of all the answers I received for this question. I cannot possibly choose an answer because there are so many good ones. Therefore, I will pass this on to the Yahoo Community to decide.

Answer 1

I did listen & I passed the stories on to my children & grandchildren. :)

Answer 2

I wrote down some of the stories my father told me, but I wish I had listened to more of the things my mother said. Someday I will try to put together everything I know, for my children and their children. I already have several photo albums and scrapbooks that I worked on a few years ago, now I have a big box of things I need to add, and do a few more scrapbooks. One of my projects for this year, is to go thru and copy important pictures and things and put together scrapbooks for each daughter and grandchildren.

A cousin on my dad's side of the family actually did a family history, she went to Sweden to get information on all the ancestors. I have never seen it, but I could probably get a copy if I want to put out $50. for it. All of my grandparents died before I was born or when I was very young, so I learned nothing from them.

When I get that done, it will be time to collect stories from my motherin law, and she has a million of them, for a book for my husband's side of the family. I wish I could convince her to write them down. Maybe one of these days I will take a tape recorder over there.

Answer 3

Yes, I know a good bit of my mother's family's history, and a private geneologist recorded births, deaths, and marriages from the 1600's through 1954, but I know next to nothing about my father's family, other then where my dad was born, Cape Cod, and where he lived as a young man, Saco, Maine. Well, as you can see, that's not much, and all of his seven brothers and sisters have also passed away. Now I wish I knew more about his family, on both sides, even about his nieces and nephews. I really only know one, and she died last year. Too sad!

Answer 4

I did listen to my grandmothers about family history. Right now, I am tracing my family history, so far I am back to 1790 for my great, great, great grandmother. I have traced my step fathers family back to the 15th century in Germany.

My great, great grandfather was a pioneer in Wisconsin in a small town of Jenny, which is now known as Merrill

MY great grandmother arrived from Sweden in 1893, she was 20. Her last name was Berglund and married a Bergman. The census records shows her name listed as Bergland and Berglund, so ???? Also becaseu the Swedes
would use names like Gustavsdotter, and Petersson, for daughter and son leaves me a little confused

I am a little stymied about dates of death, however. I did go to my great grandmothers funeral in 1956, but I can't seem to find where she was buried. I know it was in the winter becasue they could not break the ground. The casket was in my great uncles house, which sort of freaked out a 5-6 year old.

Answer 5

Yes I listened..I have the full family history...go to the register of deeds office in the area that they lived...you might be able to find birth, death and marriage records..Parents names are listed on these records ..then follow it back from there. If it is that they came from another country check the Ellis Island site too. On birth and marriage records you can see what church they belonged to and then find out which cemetery was affiliated with that church at the time..then find their head stones. It is really fun looking through the old documents. They also have land records you can search.. I work in the Register of deeds office and am just fascinated with it.

Answer 6

I listened, but I wish I had asked some questions about certain things.

For instance my mother told me that her mother had originally planned to name all her children, there were six, names that started with an "N," but when my mother was born, she was the fourth child, Aunt Susie raised such a fuss about having someone in the family named after her that my mother was named Susie instead of Nattie, something she was happy about BTW.

When I got into genealogy I began to understand that it was a bit of a family tradition back then to name all the kids with first names all starting with the same letter. My grandmother's older sister had 10 children, all with names beginning with a "M." So I guess Grandma was just picking up from where she left off.

But I can find no one in the family other than my mother named Susie!

Mama used to receive calls from someone she called "Uncle George" and whom she described as tall and red haired. He had a bit of a "foul mouth" so she didn't like to talk to him, but he was "family" so she did; but I can find no George anywhere in the family.

No Susie. No George anywhere in the family. Who were these people?

My mother gave me quite a bit of family history on both her and my father's side and maybe she thought I understood who they were, but... ?

Answer 7

I did go through a period of researching my family history at one point....I think I must have been particularly keen when I was around ten years old. I had a great aunt (on my father's side) who had a stroke just before my tenth birthday (she was almost 80 at the time) and one thing I did with her during her convalescence was to go through some of her old photo albums with her. What I really wish is that I knew what had become of all the information I gathered during that period...we must still have it somewhere! It was mostly just names....but names are a good start.

My parents are now in their sixties....and my mother has recently become more interested in researching her family....probably partly because she is the only member of her close family living in Europe...so she is closer to where her ancestors came from. I hope I am not going to have regrets later about not being more involved in the research she has done over the past few years!

Answer 8

Oh, I listened very well and I'm in the process of writing my memoirs to leave as a written legacy for my kids, grand kids and all the future generations to come. That is the only way my photograph in the family album can have a lasting meaning to each of them.
Take care and God bless!

Answer 9

I did listen - and I listened and listened and listened. My Grandfather should have been in the recording business!
Seriously, my parents left out a large chunk of our heritage, but my grandparents did tell me on condition that I not relate what I had learned from them to my parents. My family invented the word disfunctional! CJ

Answer 10

Definitely. Now that I'd like to leave my children and grandchildren a history of their ancestors, there's no one to ask. All I remember is that my paternal ancestors (on my mother's side) came from Ireland and my maternal ancestors were Cherokees from Georgia (also on my mother's side)which should have been quite an interesting mix. But I don't think I'll ever be able to trace it. It's very sad.

Answer 11

I listened to my granddad tell stories of the "old days" , he was born in 1900--just wished I had really listened instead of halfheartedly. I am now into genealogy and making notes/ listening to the stories would have made some interesting stories for my family book I am trying to write, not to mention filling in some blanks about some unknown ancestors.