Well Said, however, I disagree on one minor point: I feel that HOW our ancestors lived is an integral part of genealogy, as much so, as vital statistics. ronnief wrote: > What is genealogy? It's finding great-great grandpa, John Smith, > who was born in 1850 in Sumner County, TN and died in 1925 in Sumner > County, TN. Is it more than that? > If some 30 year old brownstone dweller in New York is researching > and finds that this John Smith was his great-great grandpa and he/she > has the dates, then that person might want to know what life was like > back then in Sumner County. If somebody who is 90 years old from Sumner > County writes a story on the list about the peddler coming through the > community or their brother knocking over the outhouse, then that 30 year > old in New York gets some idea what happened in the everyday life of > great-great grandpa, John Smith. > I found a diary on another site that was written by a housewife in > the late 1800's. In her diary, she wrote about the weather that day, a > quilt she was making, setting eggs under a hen, food she cooked, people > she visited and visited her, neighbors who died. Through her everyday > routines that she wrote about, I get to breathe life into my ancestors > during that period who would have been living the same routine. > Some people who DO genealogy might want nothing more than a name > with a date-of-birth and a date-of-death; but for us who ENJOY > genealogy, we want to know what life was like for that name between > his/her date-of-birth and date-of-death. > So, in short, if you people who "do" genealogy would patiently > indulge us who "enjoy" genealogy, you also might learn to "enjoy" the > genealogy that you are "doing". > Thanks