Why do I bother?

One of my most distracting and always time-consuming hobbies has been tracking my genealogy.  For me, this is a treasure of who we are, and why we are this way.  In a discussion the other day, I was mocked for my interest, and my discussion on the matter, and I allowed the moment to slip away, dismissing it as something that I share with my dad.  This is true, but as I’ve pondered the matter, willingly addressing the skepticism as the feedback of others is not always bad, no matter how poorly given. 

I realize it’s more than just about people I’ll never meet.  I feel a connection to these people who came to this nation before me.  In my closest immigrant association, my father’s grandfather was born in Wales. That makes me, technically, a fourth generation American, down that side.  But that doesn’t tell the whole tale.

Grandma Katy (Rudloff) Bowen (far left) & Grandpa Lewis Bowen

I began researching my genealogy after my husband died, which was not long after my mother died.  I couldn’t go back to my job, and I didn’t have my husband to care for.  The time spent looking into my family history gave me a gift in the form of healing my heart at a time when my heart was particularly broken.  It filled my days in a way that was necessary for my sanity.

In the meantime, something amazing happened.  I tracked down some quite noteworthy people in my history.  People that mattered.  People did things and shaped things, and literally formed our country, and in fact, our world.  Ironically, discovering these things means one can almost never talk about them.  Regardless of how well meant, the conversation always sounds like bragging.  So mostly, I keep it to myself. 

But the fact is, these people, and the history they represent, has a tremendous impact on all of us today.  We still use and see the things that my particular ancestors, and quite possibly yours, have brought to us today.  The truth is, most people will eventually find someone noteworthy in their past.  It’s very likely most people have some sort of nobility in their past.  Does it change my life today?  Not precisely.  Does it impact my life today?  It certainly does. 

History comes alive through my ancestors.  My grandmother, Catherine Rudloff, my father’s mother, was only a few months old when she survived the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.  I knew my grandmother.  She shined like a star.  Her very presence was energy, and she always seemed to be in motion.  I think there’s a lot of her in me, and that’s quite an accomplishment.  My mother’s side were farmers. Farmers, farmers, farmers.  They were also soldiers and land owners and suffragettes and prohibition dodgers, but all the way back to Wales, they were farmers.  My Iowa family fought in the civil war, and literally plowed the land that fed our nation. 

I found out I am diversely European, yet almost exclusively European.  My family comes from Wales, and Belgium, and Germany/Prussia, and Scotland, Ireland, England, and France, and all of the regions surrounding, but barely anywhere else.  My mother’s family is almost exclusively Welsh and Irish until the they came over to the new world.  My father’s family was one of the first families on the soil. 

But my genealogy is not so unique.  I believe most people will find noteworthy people in their trees if they start shaking them.  All of us are related to somebody, and that history is just waiting out there to be found.

So to the snarky acquaintance; I’m sorry that a connection to your past and a greater understanding of your family history doesn’t benefit you.  Perhaps you could give it a try.  You might find it enlightening.