Family - Do we have our priorities right?

[stockman fred]

Whenever I tell my sister of the latest exciting historical discovery, she says "If you met these people up the pub, you'd run a mile," or alternatively " you avoid seeing your living rellies so why do you think you'd get on with your dead ones any better?" which does bring you down to earth.
I sometimes think "would any of these ancestors be interested in our world?" - imagine if we woke up in 2106 and saw all our good, bad and ugly descendants!
It's still addictive though and has brought the interested members of the family closer together through a shared passion (even my sister really!)
Fred
 

[Gadget]

Most of my family are interested as long as I do the research but like Linda, I find that I've become closer to 2nd and 3rd cousins than 1st ones since I've been researching.
Is it the wedding/funeral meetings that pust one off

Gadget

[linmey]

I think it may be that Gadget. I have seen my third cousin 3 times in 2006 and she lives miles away. My first cousin who lives 5 miles away I havnt seen for about 7 years. Well, he is so boring.

Linda.

[Gadget]

I think it might be something to do with those distant ancestors that we share with our 2nds and thirds - we've tried so hard to find them and there's a bit of a romantic feeling about them.  Our closer rellies - well they've been around forever - or so it seems 

Gadget

[linmey]

Yes, I guess it is a bit more romantic, and lets face it, we expend an awful lot of man/woman hours looking for them, so they are doubly precious.

Linda.

[Lemontree]

Hi

In answer to your brothers question

My cousins havn't contact me either whereas I share a particular interest with the one cousin however far removed they are and we have contacted each other as we want to share the history.

All those other cousins are not interested otherwise they too would have been in contact or will be in the future.



Lemon

[oldcrone]

I had a ponder about this on an earlier thread (Carol's from last month: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,167367.msg788821.html#msg788821)

"why am I doing this?" when I'm not particularly close to my immediate family (though I am to my own children)?  ie why am I looking for my ancestors when I'm don't have much to do with my mum and siblings    I'm not sure whether I've really got to the bottom of it, though.....

Hhhmmmmm, still not sure 

Clara

[RJ_Paton]

Quite a thought provoking question and one which , in truth, probably has no easy answer from any of us.
I too have a large number of cousins that I could walk past in the street and not recognise and yet I expend a lot of effort in hunting for others long gone or as yet unknown.
I know many of the reasons involved in the estrangment of my living cousins and perhaps because the as yet unknown relations  carry none of this baggage there is a greater degree of interest in them.
Or perhaps it's just that part of us that makes us hunt as we do that makes us curious to find out as much as we can plus when we meet others its generally because they too were searching and we then start off with a common interest

[Gadget]

Well, I've just committed myself to travelling to Southern Ireland for the second time this year. Just had an invite to my second cousin's surprise birthday party in a fortnight's time. I only met her properly a year ago and we 'bonded'. Would I drop everything and spend £500 min to go to one of my more long term cousin's parties - I don't think so 

Gadget - off to Ireland again