Genealogy

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Genealogy

by mattk @ Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 – 13:34:37

Am I the only one not to be remotely interested in this genealogy fad that seems to have everyone so thrilled at the moment? I can't say I give a toss who [insert celeb name here]'s great-great-great grandfather was, or what he did for a living, or whatever. I'm not even interested in my own genealogy, although I can at least understand why people would want to research their own. What does genealogy tell you, really, other than certain information about your genetic stock? It doesn't tell you "who you are", for heaven's sake. How can it?

Maybe it's just me. What do you good people think?
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20 Comments to Genealogy

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- lostjohnny
- http://lostjohnnyparadox.blog.co.uk
- Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 13:40:21
It has some interest to see the look on Ainsley Harriets face when he discovered his Great x 3 Grandfather was a white slaver was one of those moments.

I generally agree through despite the nice to know factor as to where our immediate ancestors were from etc We are individuals and the nurture of our environment and parents will have a more relevant effect on who we are, as well as any individual essence and development.

My dad was a dog and my mother a fox apparently?
- - mattk
  - Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 13:54:40
  Does that make you a fog?
  - - lostjohnny
    - http://lostjohnnyparadox.blog.co.uk
    - Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 14:24:53
    Possibly very foggy or in some parts I get called Misty and will chase cars, balls and sticks. In other areas they call me Harr which I do not like as I am most definatly west coast.
    
    The other theory was my dad being dyslexic was actually God and Transmigrated his spirit in the the body of an old grey wolf. Unfortunately the wolf had bad eyesight, however a good sense of scent and detected my mother was in heat. So 63 days later I was pushed forth in a human form so you see I competely agree that despite me being a fog or a Guffox I nearly look normal well at least phisically.
    - - mattk
      - Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 14:28:15
      Maybe I should rethink my position on genealogy - yours is fascinating!
      - lostjohnny
        
        http://lostjohnnyparadox.blog.co.uk
        
        Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 14:33:31
        
        There in lies the paradox
        
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- subville
- http://subville.blog.co.uk/
- Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 14:28:53
I enjoyed watching the programme about Boris Johnson and his genealogy. That was more to do with relishing his mannerisms though. "Cripes!"
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- jenray ^Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 15:39:04
Well I suppose you could look on your genealogy as an acknowledgement of all those who went before you...if they hadn't survived, you wouldn't be here and the same applies to all of us...I wasn't interested in mine either but mentioned my grandmother's name to a friend and she went off and came back with a folder the size of a book...HLOL...still trying to get my head around what she told me...I could trust her implicitly as well because she did genealogies for various old families...GBHs XX
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- blacksheep63 ^Pro
- Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 17:59:12
well as you might expect i disagree with you, to some extent at least. i enjoy WDYTYA because i like seeing people explore the lives of their ancestors. of course our own experiences make as who we are but our cultural 'echo' is helpful in understanding our own history. we routinely accept that we pick up attitudes, opinions, behaviour, and of course genetic similarities, from our immediate parents. i think it also helps to put our lives into perspective: i am a lecturer, one brother a successful lawyer, one in business - all firmly middle class. yet go back 60-70 years and you find lower middle and working class relations. i also feel very much a londoner but my family only came to the smoke in the 1860s, before that they had lived around the same small area of cambridgeshire fens since at least 1650. i find that interesting. but i would like genealogy to take better account of wider history, sometimes WDYTYA does, there was an agricultural depression in the mid 19th c, and the railways linked the fens with the capital. knowing that my ancestors decision to (a la tebbit) 'get on his bike' - in this case a train - makes sense.

history is not compulsory past 14 at schools - this worries me. not just because its my livelihood but because i believe we need to know and understand the past. some 14 year olds tell me history is 'boring' or irrelevant: popular history programs such as WDYTYA play on the cult of celebrity but if it inspires some people to want to know more about the past (theirs and everyone else's) then i think its worth it.

bit long, but you did ask!
- - mattk
  - Monday, Sep. 15, 2008 @ 08:48:59
  I completely agree with you about the study of history and its importance, and I take your point that WDYTYA could at least get younger people halfway interested in history by mentioning the magic word "celebrity".
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- QueeneMab
- Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 20:10:47
to be honest, I have always found it strange that people need to study it. My family always seemed to know about 4 or 5 generations back the names of ancestors used to be recorded in the family bible.

X
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- PurpleDragon
- Friday, Sep. 12, 2008 @ 20:15:13
I have no real interest in it, myself. A pal of mine has thousands of newly discovered relatives, but I don't see the point. I don't keep in touch with the cusins I //do// have. Why find more to not keep in touch with?

however. My great-grandmother was a dancer with either the Folies Bougere (sp?) or in the Moulin Rouge. I didn't get her legs.
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- NotBob ^Pro
- Saturday, Sep. 13, 2008 @ 14:17:48
Personally I find it fascinating. Not that it has any effect on anything I do or on my sense of self, for me it's just curiosity. Mind you, tracing my family tree is rather complex, having come from good Irish stock.
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- rubychoo
- Monday, Sep. 15, 2008 @ 09:11:51
I do find it interesting... all our hidden tribal traits humming away in there....
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- Doralene
- Monday, Sep. 15, 2008 @ 10:07:04
I done genealogy for years and it still perks my interest every now and then. I was given most of my info from the wife of a dead relative, which he had been given from another distant relative. I became rather jaded after I discovered the family that I was researching in Scotland was not actually mine. This original person must have just copied down names and dates, without actually finding proof that they were the right family
- - mattk
  - Monday, Sep. 15, 2008 @ 10:55:36
  Doh!
  - - Doralene
    - Saturday, Sep. 20, 2008 @ 08:56:42
    Lol, said a little bit more than that when I found out
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- kendersrule ^Pro
- Thursday, Sep. 25, 2008 @ 09:42:08
Oh god, my dad's a family tree freak, needless to say I couldn't give a toss who my, or anyones elses, great to the power of 17 grandad was
- - mattk
  - Thursday, Sep. 25, 2008 @ 13:33:05
  Me neither. About my family tree I mean. Although now I come to think about it, I don't really care about your family tree either!
  - - kendersrule ^Pro
    - Friday, Sep. 26, 2008 @ 07:51:26
    hehehe!
    I care not one jot for yours either
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- wendlane
- http://www.moondustandangels.co.uk
- Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 @ 11:46:35
I find it interesting because I suppose I have a love for history and what brought all of us to this point and place in our lives..doesn't make much difference to our lives except that it can often put things in perspective about how bad we think things are -historically people had it so much tougher -as for Ainsley it teaches us a lot doesn't it about how hard it must be to be black in a white dominated society with that kind of history -imagine if someone told you that both your great grandfathers were slave owners -the saddest part for me was the story of his great grandmother who was just 3 years old at the time? It's about roots, where we come from helps us understand who we are and why we do some of the things we do..well in my opinion be it ever so humble
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