Blessings, Genealogy Bug, Genealogy Pox, Murphy's Law, No Footprints, Quips &Quotes,
Top-Ten
GENEALOGY POX:
Very contagious to adults. No known cure.
SYMPTOMS: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates and places. Patient has a blank
expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kinds, except
feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses and scanning genealogical
websites. Has compulsion to write letters and e-mail. Swears at mail carrier when no mail is
left and at computer when there is no e-mail. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins,
and remote, desolate country areas. Makes secret night calls, hides phone bills from spouse, and
mumbles to self. Has strange, faraway look in eyes.
TREATMENT: Medication is useless. Disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse.
Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and
newspapers, frequent genealogical chat-rooms, and be given a quiet corner in the house where
he or she can be alone.
REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is: the sicker the patient gets, the more he or she
enjoys it!
TopBlessings of a Family Genealogist
Wilma Mauk & the St. Louis Genealogical Society.
Blessed are the great-grandfathers, who saved embarkations and citizenship papers.
For they tell whence they came.
Blessed are the great grandmothers, who hoarded newspaper clippings and old letters,
For these tell the story of their time.
Blessed are all grandfathers, who filed every legal document,
For this provide the proof.
Blessed are grandmothers, who preserved family Bibles and diaries,
For this is our heritage.
Blessed are fathers, who elect officials that answer letters of inquiry,
For--to some--the only link to the past.
Blessed are the mothers, who relate family traditions and legend to the family,
For one of her children will surely remember.
Blessed are relatives, who fill in family sheets and extra data,
For to them we ow the family history.
Blessed is any family, whose member strives for the preservation of records,
For theirs is a labor of love.
Blessed are the children, who will never say,
"Grandma, you have told that old story twice today."
The top ten indicators that you've become a Gene-aholic
By Mary H. Harris
10. You introduce your daughter as your descendant.
9. You've never met any of the people you send e-mail to, even though you are related.
8. You can recite your lineage back 8 generations, but can't remember your nephew's name.
7. You have more photographs of dead people than living ones.
6. You have taken a tape recorder and or notebook to a family reunion.
5. You have not only read the latest Gedcom standards, you understand it.
4. The local genealogy society borrows books from you.
3. The only film you have seen in the last year was the 1880 census index.
2. More than half of your CD collection is made up of marriage records or pedigrees.
1. Your elusive ancestors have been spotted in more places than Elvis.
topMurphy's Laws of Family History
Submitted by Win Wood
The keeper of the vital records you need will just have been insulted by another genealogist
Your great-grandfather's obituary states that he died, leaving no issue of record.
The town clerk you wrote to in desperation, and finally convince to give you the information you
need, can't write legible and doesn't have a copying machine.
That ancient photograph of four relatives, one of whom is your progenitor, carries the names of
the other three.
Copies of old newspapers have holes which occur only on maiden names.
No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, always rented property, was never
sued, and was never named in wills.
You learned that Great aunt Matilda's executor just sold her life's collection of family
genealogical materials to a flea market dealer "somewhere in New Your City".
Yours is the ONLY last name not found among the three billion in the world famous Mormon
archives in Salt Lake City.
Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the data recorded.
The critical link in your family tree is named "Smith".
topNo Footprints in the Sands of Time:
Submitted by Pat Everett
It's nice to come from gentle folks
Who wouldn't stoop to brawl,
Who never took a lusty poke
At anyone at all.
Who never raised a raucous shout
At any Country Inn,
Or calmed an ugly fellow lout
With a belaying pin.
Who never shot at a revenuer
Hunting for a still;
Who never rustled cattle
And agreed with Uncle's will;
Who lived life as they ought
Without uncouth distraction;
And shunned like leprosy a thought
Of taking leagal action.
It's nice to come from gentle folks
Who've never know disgrace,
But oh, though scandal is no joke
It's far easier to trace!
topQUIPS AND QUOTES:
 |
Genealogy: Chasing your own tale.
Floor: the place for storing your priceless genealogy records.
Share your knowledge, it is a way to achieve immortality.
Documentation, the hardest part of genealogy!
A family tree can wither if no one tends its roots.
Only a genealogist regards a step backwards as progress.
Remember, undocumented genealogy is mythology!.
Theory of relativity: If you go back far enough, we're all
related. |
| OVERHEARD:
When I searched for ancestors, I found friends.
I'm not stuck, I'm ancestrally challenged.
Snobs talk as if they had begotten their own ancestors!
That's strange; half my ancestors are WOMEN!
My ancestors must be in the witness protection program.
I trace my family history so I will know who to blame.
Can a first cousin, once removed, return?
Searching for lost relatives? Win the lottery!
Every family tree has some sap in it.
Genealogy: A haystack full of needles. It's the threads I need.
I think my family tree is a few branches short of full bloom.
Try Genealogy. You can't get fired and you can't quit! |
