I have been asked so many times over the years to share information or to explain a relationship that I have discovered in my research. To me it is no big deal.
However, to some it is. It is a huge frustration of many family researchers. I read posts day after day from people on group message boards about how other family members have stolen "their" research and how wrong it is. I tend to disagree.
While I believe in giving credit where credit is due, I don't feel that a copy of a picture of the family from the early 1900s belongs to any one person, but should be shared with the entire family. Each and every person in my family deserves to be able to learn about our family history. It isn't mine to keep hidden, it isn't mine to lock up in a closet, it isn't mine to hold hostage.
I firmly feel that the story of my family is the story of OUR family and doesn't belong to me or anyone else. It belonged to our ancestors and to keep their spirit and legacy alive we must be willing to share it.
I cannot tell you how many hours or dollars I have spent doing family research throughout my life. I wrote letters when I was 10 years old trying to discover family stories. I sent emails when I was 18 looking for more information. I pay to subscribe to Ancestry.com and other sites so that I keep the research going constantly. To me it doesn't matter how much I have spent or how many hours I have spent doing the research.
To me, the reward is sharing my work. Seeing my mother-in-law's face after she met family she had never known. Hearing the laughter from my uncle as he chuckles at the family pictures I have dug up. Watching the amazement in my daughter's eyes when I tell her a story about how her great-great-great grandmother sailed across the sea with her baby girl to leaving her entire family behind and joining only her husband to start a new life in America. That is what it is all about. My goal is to keep the family history alive within each and every one of my family members and to share the stories from our ancestors so that they might live on within each of us as well.
~Christine
However, to some it is. It is a huge frustration of many family researchers. I read posts day after day from people on group message boards about how other family members have stolen "their" research and how wrong it is. I tend to disagree.
While I believe in giving credit where credit is due, I don't feel that a copy of a picture of the family from the early 1900s belongs to any one person, but should be shared with the entire family. Each and every person in my family deserves to be able to learn about our family history. It isn't mine to keep hidden, it isn't mine to lock up in a closet, it isn't mine to hold hostage.
I firmly feel that the story of my family is the story of OUR family and doesn't belong to me or anyone else. It belonged to our ancestors and to keep their spirit and legacy alive we must be willing to share it.
I cannot tell you how many hours or dollars I have spent doing family research throughout my life. I wrote letters when I was 10 years old trying to discover family stories. I sent emails when I was 18 looking for more information. I pay to subscribe to Ancestry.com and other sites so that I keep the research going constantly. To me it doesn't matter how much I have spent or how many hours I have spent doing the research.
To me, the reward is sharing my work. Seeing my mother-in-law's face after she met family she had never known. Hearing the laughter from my uncle as he chuckles at the family pictures I have dug up. Watching the amazement in my daughter's eyes when I tell her a story about how her great-great-great grandmother sailed across the sea with her baby girl to leaving her entire family behind and joining only her husband to start a new life in America. That is what it is all about. My goal is to keep the family history alive within each and every one of my family members and to share the stories from our ancestors so that they might live on within each of us as well.
~Christine
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