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hafoc
Somebody-- I think perhaps it was Ambrose Bierce-- said that taking pride in your ancestry is about the silliest thing possible.
Personally, I know of sillier things. I remember the signature line of one fellow on a forum page I used to frequent, which went something like "The experts say spanking your kids is bad for them. The experts say smoke makes the planet heat up. The experts say Obama's an American. I'm sure glad I ain't no expert." He's proud of being ignorant, in other words. That seems sillier to me.
Nevertheless, I have to say it is kind of silly to be proud of your ancestry, except in as far as it might encourage you to act bravely and honorably. Other than that I can't see that it matters. It is interesting, however, to know who some of your ancestors were and where they lived.
Doing a web search for some info about my uncle's war record, I stumbled across a family tree that claims that we are descended from some fellow who was born in England in 1450 or so, and moved to Scotland. His name means nothing to me, but it's interesting to trace the generations back that far, see the names, and wonder what kind of people they were.
Prior to this the earliest ancestor I knew about was one of my great-great grandfathers, born (if I remember correctly) in 1832 in Northern Ireland. So this discovery pushes the horizons far back.
On the other hand, the quality of the information JUST MAY be a bit suspect. The precision is a bit lacking-- this supposed ancestor of mine died "approximately 1480-1540," which is a bit of a range. And then there's the information that my mother lived in Florida and died in 2001, both of which facts would come as a great surprise to her.
I suspect that when somebody comes and waves money at a retail-grade genealogist, who constructs family trees for the Walmart market, (s)he can be tempted to just throw any old information out there, or even to make most of it up. Because as old Ambrose surely knew, none of it matters a whit anyway.
Personally, I know of sillier things. I remember the signature line of one fellow on a forum page I used to frequent, which went something like "The experts say spanking your kids is bad for them. The experts say smoke makes the planet heat up. The experts say Obama's an American. I'm sure glad I ain't no expert." He's proud of being ignorant, in other words. That seems sillier to me.
Nevertheless, I have to say it is kind of silly to be proud of your ancestry, except in as far as it might encourage you to act bravely and honorably. Other than that I can't see that it matters. It is interesting, however, to know who some of your ancestors were and where they lived.
Doing a web search for some info about my uncle's war record, I stumbled across a family tree that claims that we are descended from some fellow who was born in England in 1450 or so, and moved to Scotland. His name means nothing to me, but it's interesting to trace the generations back that far, see the names, and wonder what kind of people they were.
Prior to this the earliest ancestor I knew about was one of my great-great grandfathers, born (if I remember correctly) in 1832 in Northern Ireland. So this discovery pushes the horizons far back.
On the other hand, the quality of the information JUST MAY be a bit suspect. The precision is a bit lacking-- this supposed ancestor of mine died "approximately 1480-1540," which is a bit of a range. And then there's the information that my mother lived in Florida and died in 2001, both of which facts would come as a great surprise to her.
I suspect that when somebody comes and waves money at a retail-grade genealogist, who constructs family trees for the Walmart market, (s)he can be tempted to just throw any old information out there, or even to make most of it up. Because as old Ambrose surely knew, none of it matters a whit anyway.
