Questions: Personal and Universal

Last week I wrote about the Swedish genealogy event where I was one of the researchers. I’ve also been making a lot of presentations lately and one of the best things about being a speaker is talking with people individually before and after presenting for the group. This week I thought I would let some of those people and others that I’ve spoken with “do the talking.”

“My father was adopted. How can I find his biological family?”

“My grandmother told all kinds of stories. I wish I knew if they were true…”

“My mother collected all this family stuff. I wasn’t interested at the time and now I’m slowly trying to understand what it is.”

“Do you read German? I think this might be the baptism of my great-great-grandmother.”

“I think something like what you mentioned happened with my grandfather. There were certain subjects he just never talked about.”

“My grandparents were all immigrants and I’d love to find out where they came from.”

“We always thought that grandma was really straight laced. Then I found this in her hometown newspaper…”

“Can you make out this handwriting? I can’t tell if it is the right family.”

“Do you think what I’ve told you about my great-grandfather is enough to get started?”

“I’ve found these three men in the census. What should I do to try to figure out which one is my ancestor?”

“I’ve hit a brick wall on my mother’s mother’s side. Do you think that this land record is enough to prove the relationship?”

“Do you have a moment? I don’t really like to talk about this but…”

That is just a small sample. The questions and stories become almost a sort of collective poetry, both deeply personal and broadly universal. Some are funny, many are moving, all have meaning. They are the things genealogists ponder and that draw us to family history.

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