From another list. Dan Hogan Begin forwarded message: > > > 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 you > have been working on for two years, your aunt says, "I could have told > you that" > > 3) You grandmother's maiden name that you have searched for for four > years was on a letter in a box in the attic all the time. > > 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 age 10. > > 8) Your great grandfather's newspaper obituary states that he died > leaving no issue of record. > > 9) The keeper of the vital records you need has just been insulted > by a another genealogist. > > 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 for 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 wills. > > 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, sixteen thousand page history of your county of > origin isn't indexed. > > 20) You finally find your great grandparent's wedding records and > discover that the brides' father was named John Smith. > >

Oh Dan, How true, how true! We find them all at one time or another. Thanks for the smile of the day. Bev