Genealogy and Clan Cunningham Revisited
As I previously wrote concerning Clan Cunningham, it's much more important to know where you're going than where you came from. There are those in my "clan", however, who refuse to let sleeping dogs lie. I wonder… do they think it's important to hang on to some kind of legacy? If we had rich ancestors or are descendants of royalty, then it might be a worthwhile pursuit. Since my research has shown neither to be the case, why would I be interested in my own genealogy? Well, since I can't stop anyone in my extended families from dwelling on the past, all I can do is correct the errors they make.
Genealogy Research
The Internet has an abundance of information. The information concerning my family name is unorganized at best. Finding the names isn't what's hard; connecting the dots is what's hard. There are way too many duplicate first names, without any indication of middle names, and way too many duplicate first, middle and last names to sort it all out properly.
This is where genealogy software and websites come into play. They are tools to help you organize the information and sort it into something coherent. Family Tree Maker is a popular genealogy software title for the PC. Reunion 9 seems to be the favorite as genealogy software for the Mac.
I don't know how many websites are genealogy-driven. The only I was aware of until recently was Ancestry.com and I never liked using it even when I was slightly interested in genealogy. A few days ago, I found out my younger sister had added me and my family at MyHeritage.com and I went there only to make minor corrections. The top of the tree is my grandparents, but I noticed that aunts, uncles and their families have yet to be added.
How far do you go?
This is the part of tracing the family tree I find to be the most annoying. Just how far back should you go, even if you can go all the way back to the beginning?
One of the reasons I gave up on it was because I didn't want to discover something I didn't want to know. There is always a skeleton in the closet somewhere because nobody has ever had a perfect life. I would be beside myself if I found out one of my ancestors was a slave owner or a slave trader, or if one of my ancestors participated in any of the acts of genocide of the last two centuries.
I don't know about you, but I have my own guilt to deal with and I don't need to add ancestral guilt to go along with it.
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