My challenge, according to the lawyer, was to create a 4-generation family tree for the judge who would be deciding if her will was valid! Could I do it by Tuesday? I wish she had asked me to write about a few of the family stories my Aunt had shared over the years. That would have been fun!I felt like a student who had prepared for the wrong test questions as I listened to the need to find birthdays, dates of death (if needed) or addresses for my cousins and my first cousins once removed! No stories needed.
Did she know my dad had 9 older siblings, the first born in 1905? Did she know my grandfather passed before I was born? Did she know that family gatherings had been limited to funerals for decades? Did she know that I listened and took notes of the stories.....but I did not ask about birthdays...and I am pretty sure my Aunt would not have been able to give me those details either!
But today, thanks to Google, Ancestry.com, Legacy.com, White Pages, and the shrewd work of one cousin, I have a document to share that reduces our family tree to dates. It really does not tell the story of my family, nor does it tell the story of why my Aunt had no living relatives, even though I cared for her during her final years.
So now you know about my weekend..... In case you are wondering, it is easier to find dates of death than of birth. For those of us leaving a digital, blogging footprint, it will also be easier to find what really matters, our stories!
2 comments:
The stories were so much more important. Glad you got to hear them.
I love these sorts of puzzles! Too bad we aren't related because I could have done this for you in minutes. I have all the branches of our family tree (mine and my husband's) going back and forward and sideways for several generations. But now you have it! I, however, really wish I had more stories! Lots of people have been forgotten and are reduced to just a date, maybe a picture.
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