Purpose of Genealogy (A Little Philosophy)

The primary purpose of Genealogy is, of course, to gain information about our families. It is human nature to want to know what happened before we got here. It is also human nature to want to know who was here. But it is a relatively rare person (who's kidding who-the pun was intended) that actually takes the time to find out. It could possibly be a trait that some have. Or more likely, it is just a set of unfortunate circumstances that slowly sink us into the very depths of depravity that we affectionately call "The Genealogy Bug". No one wakes up one day and says, "I'm gonna become a Genealogy addict". It usually starts quite innocently. You're trying to remember your grandmother's maiden name and you wind up getting "the box" down from the attic. You quickly realize that finding that one small piece of information is roughly the equivalent of walking into the supermarket to pick up one thing. You have to look at everything. Oh you do find out your grandmother's maiden name but you also notice that her father was killed by Indians. Hmm....what was HIS name? Hmm...from Georgia. Hmm...we came from Georgia? The following weekend you're at the library glued to the screen of a microfilm viewer trying to find this guy on an 1850 Census. You're surfing the Net trying to "score" information. Eventually we beg. Or worse (gulp): SPEND MONEY! Or maybe you were lured into this world of wantonness when you agreed to help your child with a school project. "Mom, I have to do a family tree for school. Can you help me?" "Sure honey, when is it due?". Then you get "the box" down from the attic. And it's all over, end of story.

DISTANT COUSINS

The "addictive" nature of researching one's roots notwithstanding, most people are pleasantly surprised by the number of  relatives they find. The relationship that you build with the newfound distant cousin is unique. It can possibly be said that we are all cousins, that we can tie into everyone if  we look far enough into the past. But there is an imaginary line that is drawn in our minds that differentiates between family and friends. Is it 3rd cousin, 4th cousin, 99th cousin? Who knows. When we find someone that is researching the same line as us, that person instantly has something in common with us. And that can form the basis for a sort of  friendship. When we find that they actually descend from one of our ancestors, they instantly become family. But it is not the same as the family that we grew up with, the ones that we saw every 4th of July at Grandma's house. The distant cousins are kind of in a new category for us. They are both friend and family. It is a comfortable relationship with no expectations, no obligations. There is no "excess baggage" to deal with. We find it easy to relate to them because we have a common goal. If the people on the Census records are the roots of the family tree, then we are the new growth, the ones that are sharing the world right now, at this particular point in history. It is my hope that the Georgia Lowreys effort will offer us the opportunity to consolidate our efforts and help one another to achieve our goals regarding these lines.

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