To put a smile on your face

1
you
2
parents
4
grandparents
8
great grandparents
16
great great grandparents
32
great great great grandparents
64
great great great great grandparents
128
great great great great great grandparents
256
great great great great great great grandparents
512
great great great great great great great grandparents
1024
great great great great great great great great grandparents

Think of all those twigs!

1. The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be a hanging.

2 When at last after much hard work you have solved the mystery that you have been working on for two years, your aunt says, "I could have told you that."

3 You search ten years for your grandmother's maiden name to eventually find it on a letter in a box in the attic.

4. You never asked your father about his family when he was alive because you weren't interested in genealogy then.

5. The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic.

6. Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames.

7. John, son of Thomas the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family progenitor, died on board ship at the age of 10.

8. Your great grandfather's newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no issue of record.

9. Another genealogist has just insulted the keeper of the vital records you need.

10. The relative who had all the family photographs gave them all to her daughter who has no interest in genealogy and no inclination to share.

11. The only record you find for your great grandfather is that his property was sold at a sheriff's sale of insolvency.

12. The one document that would supply the missing link in your dead end line has been lost due to fire, flood, or war.

13. The town clerk to whom you wrote for the information sends you a long handwritten letter which is totally illegible.

14. The spelling of your European ancestor's name bears no relationship to its current spelling or pronunciation.

15. None of the pictures in your recently deceased grandmother's photo album have names written on them.

16. No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, owned property, was sued or was named in a will.

17. You learn that your great aunt's executor just sold her life's collection of family genealogical materials to a flea market dealer "Somewhere in New York City."

18. Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the data recorded.

19. The 37 volume, 16,000 page history of your county of origin isn't indexed.

20. You finally find your great grandparents' wedding record and discover that the bride's father was named John Smith.

A Little Humor of My Own and Adventure Stories

I have taken my son, David, on numerous cemetery outings.  He's very careful about not stepping on 'anyone'  If he does, he'll say excuse me, I'm sorry!  On the serious side, though, he is disgusted with the condition of some cemeteries.  

On a recent outing we were looking at headstones.  He stated that he wished someone had the same birthdate as him.  I explained to him that it would be sad, as it would be a child.  As we looked at the very next headstone, lo and behold.....same birthdate....except 100 years earlier!  Was he excited.  

On another outing we went looking for a cemetery where my 5th great grandfather and grandmother were buried.  Following the directions we parked on the side of the road and started walking on a dirt road.  We ended up walking and searching through the woods for an hour.  Finally David said 'Mom look at the directions again'.  So I did.  We were on the wrong side of the road!!!  So we hike back, cross the street and there is a large open field, but no cemetery.  David with his own sense of humor said 'Face it Mom, they moved and didn't tell anyone'!

When first starting out in research, my sister, Nancy, and I went to the local genealogical society meeting.  After the meeting, everyone gathered in the historical room to do some research.  A lady there asked who we were researching, my sister replied with a couple of surnames.  The lady responded with I'm searching for Scottish ancestors and I can trace back to Robert D'Bruce!  My sister, who never did very well in history responded with 'Who's that?'  I thought the woman was going to have apoplexy right there!  Yes, Nancy now knows who Robert D'Bruce is.  

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