Well, not the workhouse, but three weeks ago I was in hospital for an operation on my foot. Nurse insisting that it was to be a general anaesthetic, I said the consultant had said that it could be a local. Conversation between the anaesthetist and the consultant agreed to a local. Then one of the nurses who is to keep the patient happy asked what would I be doing if I wasn't there. I said as it's raining I would probably using the computer to solve some genealogy problem. So we had a discussion on genealogy. He said that he came from the highlands of Scotland, his mother did very well tracing the family tree. Civil records don't exist far back but in his area the church records are very comprehensive, and it became popular in the district. Then they found that a couple of hundred years back relationships were a bit different from today. Such as uncles marrying nieces and even closer than that. He said that the result was that some people became embarrassed and stopped searching. Another example, if you can't stand the heat.. Alec Lefevre

On 6/16/2013 6:07 PM, A.Lefevre wrote: > Well, not the workhouse, but three weeks ago I was in hospital for an > operation on my foot. Nurse insisting that it was to be a general > anaesthetic, I said the consultant had said that it could be a local. > Conversation between the anaesthetist and the consultant agreed to a local. > Then one of the nurses who is to keep the patient happy asked what would I > be doing if I wasn't there. I said as it's raining I would probably using > the computer to solve some genealogy problem. So we had a discussion on > genealogy. He said that he came from the highlands of Scotland, his mother > did very well tracing the family tree. Civil records don't exist far back > but in his area the church records are very comprehensive, and it became > popular in the district. Then they found that a couple of hundred years back > relationships were a bit different from today. Such as uncles marrying > nieces and even closer than that. He said that the result was that some > people became embarrassed and stopped searching. > > Another example, if you can't stand the heat.. > > Alec Lefevre > I think the biggest mistake is to judge our ancestors by our standards, as if our standards were perfect. To understand our ancestor we must put ourselves in their place, in their time, in their circumstances with their values. Only then can we judge them. Looking at what they did in their terms, may give you a whole new perspective on the events. In one incident, I know there was some bad feelings between an ancestor and the coulple's parent. I knew the parents had lost their house and the father had been out of work. But I thought that that had been in the early 1930. Imagine my surprise when I learned that 10 years later at the time of the couple's wedding the father had been out of work for again for almost 2 years. The young woman was helping support her parents. So the marriage was adding additional insecurity to their already shaky situation. We have to accept what we find, and not do as many people do today blame their faults on their ancestors.