Sunday, May 01, 2005

Row Row Row Your Boat

I haven't been getting enough comments on my blog lately, so I've decided to do something a little more interactive this week. Two years ago I found a site for a cemetery with a listing for someone I thought might be my great great grandfather. A little more than a year ago I was able to confirm that that listing was in fact my great great grandfather. Nearly all of the research I have done has involved information from sites I was able to locate and access via the internet.

Prior to finding these digital records of my ancestors I knew who my grandparents were, but I had only the vaguest idea who their parents or grandparents were and I had very litle interest in learning anything more about them. Despite the alleged popularity of online genealogy, I suspect that most people don't really spend much time thinking about who their ancestors were and what they did or didn't do while they were alive here on planet earth.

So I've got a proposition to make. If you know the name of one of your great great grandparents and can tell me where exactly they are buried, leave a comment and let me know. It's alright, you can tell me. I won't go to the cemetery and dig them up. But if you have a blog I will visit your blog and add your blog to my blogroll.

If you don't know the names of any of your grandparents' ancestors and haven't a clue where they might have been buried, you can still leave a comment. Tell me why you think it is that you don't know. Was that information deliberately withheld from you? Were your parents or grandparents careless, inconsiderate or absent-minded? Or is there some other reason they might not have been able to pass that information along to you. Please let me know. If you do, I promise, I'll visit your blog and leave a comment on your current post.

5 comments:

Tara said...

Here's your first one. My 8th great-grandfather on my Dad's side was Samson, the chief executioner in France at the time of the French Revolution. He most likely chopped off Marie Antoinette's head. (Haven't done any personal research on this.) Rather than being ashamed of this factoid, I think it's cool, as back then this was an inherited career, and fairly prestigious from what I understand. I have no clue where he's buried, but I would guess France?

Tara :)

Webmiztris said...

I have no information about my great great grandparents. My grandma was adopted as a baby - she never even knew her real mother who died in a fire when she was a baby. And my grandpa? I just have no idea what his parents did or what their names were.

Kate said...

Hi Craig-

I have no idea about my grandparents that far back. My only excuse is that my parents and grandparents were all dead by the time I reached age 18; when they were alive, it always seemed like a non-issue. Now that they're gone, there's simply no one to ask. I can go back - I think - as far as one or two of the great great, but as far as where they're buried, I could only name the state (with maybe a 50-50 chance of being right).

Gel said...

Hi! It's very interesting that you found this info for yourself. I don't even know the real names of my ancestors & no way to track down those who might have known some info. Wish I did & could.

Weary Hag said...

Craig, I soooo envy you to have as much information about your family history as you do. I don't have a lot of information about my ancestors except that on my dad's side, they were from Germany and on my mom's side, they were from both England and Ireland.
I find your writings interesting and will be stopping back again for sure!
(ps, I found you from GEL's site)