What a great tribute you have written! I feel the same way about my
ancestors, many of whom had some of their children at an older age
than the average and lived longer. My dad wouldn't talk about himself
but he certainly passed on a lot of stories about the family and most
of them turned out to be true, confirmed by newspaper articles or
public records. He had a great grandmother born in 1819 (lived from
1830s to 1860s in Shelby County Indiana) who told stories to him (he
was born in 1899). She died in 1912. I hadn't thought my sons were
paying as much attention to my family stories until one gave his
daughter the middle name that was the maiden surname of her
great-great-great-great-great grandmother.
--Linda Stanley Dunham
On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 9:40 AM, s <surberj(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
It occurs to me that many genealogists tend to have ancestors who lived to be quite old.
For instance -- I was born in 1932 (no spring chicken!) and my dad was born in 1896. He
in turn, was partially raised by his grandmother who was allegedly born in 1811. She lived
to be over 100 and was healthy to the end until she sat down to "rest" one day,
fell asleep and didn't wake up. She loved to talk. So I grew up hearing from my father
her stories about the Civil War, the passenger pigeons, fighting Indians, homesteading,
and pioneer farm life in Indiana and Iowa. My ancestors seemed to me like the most
interesting people I'd ever heard of. It was only a few generations back that one of
my "grandfathers" was in the Revolutionary War. History was real to me and
learning more about my ancestors became a priority even when I was very young. This
wouldn't have happened had my ancestors died young before they had a chance to pass on
their stories. I think older parents and grandp!
ar!
ents are more likely to talk to children and carry on an oral
history. So it's natural to want to find out more about the history of our families.
And so we become genealogists and confound our friends because we find old census records
more fascinating than a romance novel.
Jeanne SURBER
Otha b. 1896
George b. 1865
Andrew b. 1809
Jacob Jr. b. 1790 (?)
Jacob Sr. b. 1744 (fought with Washington and Lafayette)
Don't forget to check out our genealogy web site.
http://shelbycountyindiana.org
Shelby County Researchers, please send me an e-mail with your contact information and the
surnames that you are researching (mmweaver1864(a)sbcglobal.net) and let me know whenever
that information changes. I would like to keep track of all of our researchers. Thanks,
Melinda
Any questions or problems regarding this list should be directed to me
(mmweaver1864(a)sbcglobal.net). Thanks, Melinda
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