Here in the UK there is an organisation called Ancestry.co.uk which advertises often on television encouraging people to search their family history. I think many people these days are using sites like this one to do their research but of course there are other ways to carry out the research too. I made an attempt at delving into my family’s history many years ago but gave it up as it was too time-consuming. My youngest sister took up the challenge a few years ago and as far as I can tell she did better. I know I come from Scottish stock on my dad’s side of the family and believe the same for my mother’s side too but I am not sure. I also believe there is a dash of French genes in my family but I never did prove that. As far as I know though there are no skeletons in the cupboard, no surprises of a more unsavoury kind but who knows? I suppose many people are put off tracing their history for fear of finding something they don’t wish believe about their family. They might think if word got out it might not be so good for them. Others might like the idea of having some colourful character as a great, great, great-grandfather or something, maybe a pirate or two. Does it really matter? Does it really matter whether we have a colourful history or not? Why bother tracing one’s past if not to reveal something unusual or is it just for curiosity that we stir our imagination? Skeletons in the cupboard or not will not alter the past. It will not alter who we are now, which is more important. It may be nice to discover how important our families were in the past and to feel that applies to us today but as they say, ‘It is nice to be important but it is more important to be nice’.
Shirley Anne
