Prompt # 70 - What I Learned

Prompt # 70 - What I Learned

I'm relatively new to this genealogy thing. Maybe 5 years, and our club disbanded two years ago. I don't belong to Ancestry.com. So I'm still a bit confused between what is considered Family History and what is considered “genealogy” and whether there is a difference. In our group there was a stress on “hard evidence” which meant original documentation of births, baptisms, certificates/licences/degrees, land titles and addresses, marriages, deaths, graveyards and headstones. Add to this, newspaper clippings and photographs. Legends and connections to historic or famous people were treated with skepticism and considered to be myth unless proven by genealogy charts and/or DNA evidence. I have learned that I am much more interested in the history, the stories, than the hard evidence. I have dozens of first cousins I hardly know and I'm not inspired to search for unknown blood relatives. Although I would be curious about finding Woodland relatives in England. I found these Genealogy Prompts of The Book of Me more on the story side, recollections, memories retrieved before they are lost forever. Memories I may not have thought about in years. Often only at funerals.

As a female I have always been aware of the shorter shrift females tend to get in history and family history. We take the pictures and are less often in them. We change our names and are thus more difficult to trace. We inherit china, silverware, and fabric arts but usually not medals or tools. Because of this I choose to focus more on my matrilineal line, mother, grandmothers, great-grandmothers—Bubar, Hayne, Bullen, from New Brunswick, Hampshire, and Surrey. Last year I did a timeline of my Grandma Winifred's life. I have neglected so far my father's maternal lines—Woodland and Vickery from Somerset. I'm not even sure of his grandmother's maiden name. Holkham? Rosa Holkham of Pagham, somewhere near Bognar Regis. Still much to do.

There is so much in the last 69 prompts, I forgot I even wrote it. The next question is, what on earth will I do with it? I realize that often I felt the fruitlessness of not having an audience to write to. Privacy is a concern. If I post a notice on Facebook, is it limited to the other members of the Book of Me group?

Mostly I would like to thank Julie for the inspiration. You forced me to open the trunk and to start unpacking a bit. I think my favourite is the handwriting prompt.