I truly enjoy your knowledgable and thought provoking posting, Bill. Keep them coming. It's odd, but when I started out I was mainly intent on gathering names and going back generations. It was neat to rattle off the names of 10th and 11th gr granparents. I've come to terms with that and instead of trying to collect "how many" but have turned to "how much" Rather than to continue gathering names I want to try to understand the forces and conviction and how much these things have influenced their lives. I want to understand those events and circumstances that lead to religious choice, migration etc etc. I now get more joy out of trying to flesh out those old skeletons than gathering new ones. Ruth ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Tufts" <dg052@freenet.carleton.ca> To: <newbrunswick@rootsweb.com>; "ns roots" <nsroots@ednet.ns.ca>; "Lunen Links" <Lunen-Links-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 11:50 AM Subject: [ NB ] How Big is your Family Tree? > Once in a while, someone swells up his chest and announces to me that he > has 8,000 names in his family tree, or he has 25,000 names, or, or, > or....... So, how big is your family tree? > > Columnist Pat MacAdam's column appeared in the Ottawa Sun last Sunday > (May 13) and towards the end of it, he changed the subject and explained > he had been asked by a university in Oregon for a DNA sample and they > would pick up the $253 (US) cost. > > "The object of the DNA test was to determine if I might be a descendant of > Brian Boru, one of the last great kings of Ireland and, therefore, I might > be a Pretender to the Irish throne." > > He then explained how the university emailed him weekly reports and he > and an orange grower in California shared 37 identical DNA markers. He > concluded with: > > "Cold water was dashed on my dreams of ermine and purple when I read > an online story about Genghis Khan. It seems that a team of credible PhDs > has conjectured there might be between 16-17 million "offspring" of the > warrior walking around with his DNA." > > > Now, have you nearly finished collecting everyone in your family tree? > > Bill > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NEWBRUNSWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.7.0/803 - Release Date: 5/13/2007 > 12:17 PM > >

Hi Ruth, I call the names n' dates the family skeleton. Learning about who they were is the meat n' potatoes. I went back to university after 25 years & took all my credits in history and did much better than I did in high school. Why? I was now interested. Even up to the 1980s, it was hard to figure out where someone had come from and I came up the idea of chain migration, although the name didn't cross my mind - just the concept. In 1982, I met Dr. Bruce Elliott (history) whose thesis had just been published and he, too, had found and used chain migration patterns to find people. A social historian, he looked too at people bringing with them customs and the way to do things. For instance, the style of a man's house might as well have been a flag on the roof. I took a few courses given by him & he put into words what I had also considered. Why did they leave (must have been daunting) and why did they go where they did? Bruce called it "push" and "pull" factors. In the "Push" factors are such things as economy and religion. Where they went was often because a relative/neighbour was doing better there & frequently, especially in early years, they followed the trade routes. There's a cute story about the young Irishman who crossed America to Oregon. After a couple of months on the very hot midwestern high plains, the wagon train reached the Rockies. He wrote back to his brother and said: "Paddy, you godda come here. They have so much land [that] they're stackin' it." Good luck with your search. And read local histories of places where your people lived. Bill Ruth Melander wrote: > I truly enjoy your knowledgable and thought provoking posting, Bill. Keep > them coming. > > It's odd, but when I started out I was mainly intent on gathering names and > going back generations. It was neat to rattle off the names of 10th and 11th > gr granparents. I've come to terms with that and instead of trying to > collect "how many" but have turned to "how much" > > Rather than to continue gathering names I want to try to understand the > forces and conviction and how much these things have influenced their lives. > I want to understand those events and circumstances that lead to religious > choice, migration etc etc. I now get more joy out of trying to flesh out > those old skeletons than gathering new ones. > > Ruth > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bill Tufts" <dg052@freenet.carleton.ca> > To: <newbrunswick@rootsweb.com>; "ns roots" <nsroots@ednet.ns.ca>; "Lunen > Links" <Lunen-Links-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 11:50 AM > Subject: [ NB ] How Big is your Family Tree? > > > >>Once in a while, someone swells up his chest and announces to me that he >>has 8,000 names in his family tree, or he has 25,000 names, or, or, >>or....... So, how big is your family tree? >> >>Columnist Pat MacAdam's column appeared in the Ottawa Sun last Sunday >>(May 13) and towards the end of it, he changed the subject and explained >>he had been asked by a university in Oregon for a DNA sample and they >>would pick up the $253 (US) cost. >> >>"The object of the DNA test was to determine if I might be a descendant of >>Brian Boru, one of the last great kings of Ireland and, therefore, I might >>be a Pretender to the Irish throne." >> >>He then explained how the university emailed him weekly reports and he >>and an orange grower in California shared 37 identical DNA markers. He >>concluded with: >> >>"Cold water was dashed on my dreams of ermine and purple when I read >>an online story about Genghis Khan. It seems that a team of credible PhDs >>has conjectured there might be between 16-17 million "offspring" of the >>warrior walking around with his DNA." >> >> >>Now, have you nearly finished collecting everyone in your family tree? >> >>Bill >> >>------------------------------- >>To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>NEWBRUNSWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >>quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >>-- >>No virus found in this incoming message. >>Checked by AVG Free Edition. >>Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.7.0/803 - Release Date: 5/13/2007 >>12:17 PM >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NEWBRUNSWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >