07.07.07
The Importance of Recording Family History
If you have a family member who still has his or her faculties and can remember some things, it might be a good idea to interview the person, and record that interview, or take notes. How quickly information gets lost! Sometimes, after an older person dies, it is difficult for family members to reconstruct times past, and even to understand who was related to whom, in the family. Not much time is needed for this loss of comprehension to occur.
Recently, as I said in a previous post, several family members have been searching for genealogical information. My son, in particular, has been looking for his “roots,” especially now that he is a father, too. I can help by providing what I know.
As a result of his research, I am finding out that there is much that I did not know. Sociologically-speaking, some of the information about our forebears is very surprising, and paints a picture of living conditions in New England during the mill years. Since both sides of the family were immigrants during the nineteenth century, a number of them were mill workers, primarily in textile factories.
I think that we better understand ourselves when we know the people who went before us. Without even having known some of ancestors, I can see that I hold their values, sometimes their opinions (as reported), their work ethic, and most especially, the esteem for which they held Education.
I am always happy when the younger generation wants to know what it was like to live at a certain time period. While Americans are influenced by their own immediate surroundings and affiliations, we are also swayed to some degree by popular culture, at any given time. That includes objects of material culture and music. Music has been a terrific bridge that connects the generations.
“Art is long, life is short.”
The “things” we have in this life do not matter in the long run. Your Mercedes will rust, your health will deteriorate, and people you love very much will die. We only have today, nothing more. Believe in something more than YOU because, believe me, you are not “it.” You are a piece of the puzzle, and a cog in the wheel of life. You will do your work, and then, there will be no more work for you to do. So, make the most of each day. Every breath is not yours to take, save not for the grace of your Maker. In time, you, too, will be a name on the chart of the Family Tree, if you are lucky. If you have done something memorable, perhaps someone will remember your works. Just recall the ever-repeated words in song: “We are but dust in the wind.”
Patricia Cummings
