So let me explain what my motivation is… I am not so much interested in origin. I don’t feel any connection to the ancestors I do not know, which starts with my great grandparents. I don’t even know my grant parents, however, there is a bound through my parents, who were brought up by them. So their character, how they see their world etc. is influenced by my grand parents.
Now, this is limited to my grand parents, we are speaking of a period of roughly 100 years. What about the ancestors before that time? My family tree is mostly made out of dates like you said, baptisms, marriages, deaths. A huge list of more or less random people that have nothing to do with me.
However, I am using these people to tap into the historical contexts they were born in.
My family is entirely made out of day laborers in Germany. There are a few masons, but most of them day laborers, the lowest class you can imagine. Usually, when you study history, you are looking through a certain perspective. In Germany this will most likely be counts and dukes, aristocracy, wars, territories etc. - but not so much about the poor people. My genealogical research is basically opening a new window for me, to view history from another perspective. I collected an extensive collection of literature about the weirdest little villages and stories you would never even have heard of, if you’d just follow the “traditional” way like history is taught in schools.
That is pretty impressive!
So let me explain what my motivation is… I am not so much interested in origin. I don’t feel any connection to the ancestors I do not know, which starts with my great grandparents. I don’t even know my grant parents, however, there is a bound through my parents, who were brought up by them. So their character, how they see their world etc. is influenced by my grand parents.
Now, this is limited to my grand parents, we are speaking of a period of roughly 100 years. What about the ancestors before that time? My family tree is mostly made out of dates like you said, baptisms, marriages, deaths. A huge list of more or less random people that have nothing to do with me.
However, I am using these people to tap into the historical contexts they were born in.
My family is entirely made out of day laborers in Germany. There are a few masons, but most of them day laborers, the lowest class you can imagine. Usually, when you study history, you are looking through a certain perspective. In Germany this will most likely be counts and dukes, aristocracy, wars, territories etc. - but not so much about the poor people. My genealogical research is basically opening a new window for me, to view history from another perspective. I collected an extensive collection of literature about the weirdest little villages and stories you would never even have heard of, if you’d just follow the “traditional” way like history is taught in schools.
I hope this explains it a bit!