The Lost Story

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in stories about previous generations of the family.  In my case, those don't go back very far - the earliest glimmer on the Tromble side is from the mid 19th century, and it's the tenuous information that my great-great grandfather, Edward, had come to the U.S. from Quebec in his late teens.  Then he was in Southeast Nebraska with a family, and then in Northwest Kansas as an old man where he died and was buried, before a few consecutive years of drought forced his sons who had moved there to homestead, but leave and move back to the central part of the state where relatives could help them get a new start.  

In contrast, a friend of mine, from England, knows the date in 1624 when his 10x great grandmother (one of them anyway) died. 

I would like to know where my ancestors came from.  It would be even more interesting to know what they did - what kind of lives they had.   But that information hasn't been kept, and passed down.  It is possible that some deeper family history has been kept in another branch, and genealogical research might make a connection from us to them.  That would be an interesting development.   

My own conclusion is that life was often just too hard for people to value the family history.  It certainly doesn't really matter, if you are trying to find or keep a job, grow food, feed a family, survive or escape a war, etc, what your great great great grandfather did for a living or where he was born or when he died.  

Our modern lives, more stable and secure, give us the time and energy to wonder about the web of lives back through time that leads to us.  But modern life may also make us unsure of who we are and how we relate to the world which is changing so quickly.  Perhaps, in wondering about our past we are looking for the earlier chapters in the story that could help us make sense of our lives and understand the story we are living.