This was posted on the McDonald List and I thought it was so well wished that I had to share - but then where would be all the fun we have on our Lists as we sort out who was the father, son, uncle, cousin, or just an important neighbor? I came across this piece somewhere in my rambling searches (my apologies to the author ~ if I knew your name, I'd give you credit). Funny every time I read it! Sums it up very well, je pense. Happy hunting, all! I WANT I want ancestors with names like Rudimentary Montagnard or Melchizenick von Steubenhoffmannschild or Spetznatz Giafortoni, not William Brown or John Hunter or Mary Abbott. I want ancestors who could read and write, had their children baptized in recognized houses of worship, went to school, purchased land, left detailed wills (naming a huge extended family as legatees), had their photographs taken once a year -- subsequently putting said pictures in elaborate isinglass frames annotated with calligraphic inscriptions, and carved voluble and informative inscriptions in their headstones. I want relatives who managed to bury their predecessors in established, still-extant (and indexed) cemeteries. I want family members who wrote memoirs, who enlisted in the military as officers and who served in strategically important (and well-documented) skirmishes. I want relatives who served as councilmen, schoolteachers, county clerks and town historians. I want relatives who `religiously' wrote in the family Bible, journalizing every little event and detailing the familial relationship of every visitor. In the case of immigrant progenitors, I want them to have arrived only in those years wherein passenger lists were indexed by National Archives, and I want them to have applied for citizenship, and to have done so only in those jurisdictions which have since established indices. I want relatives who were patriotic and clubby, who joined every patrimonial society they could find, who kept diaries, and listed all their addresses, who had paintings made of their houses, and who dated every piece of paper they touched. I want forebears who were wealthy enough to afford, and to keep for generations, the tribal homestead, and who left all the aforementioned pictures and diaries and journals intact in the library. But most of all, I want relatives I can FIND!!!

LOL this is excellent, thanks for sharing, Joyce "Smith" in CA LOL -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of M K MORRIS Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 8:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [VAFLOYD] I Want This was posted on the McDonald List and I thought it was so well wished that I had to share - but then where would be all the fun we have on our Lists as we sort out who was the father, son, uncle, cousin, or just an important neighbor? I came across this piece somewhere in my rambling searches (my apologies to the author ~ if I knew your name, I'd give you credit). Funny every time I read it! Sums it up very well, je pense. Happy hunting, all! I WANT I want ancestors with names like Rudimentary Montagnard or Melchizenick von Steubenhoffmannschild or Spetznatz Giafortoni, not William Brown or John Hunter or Mary Abbott. I want ancestors who could read and write, had their children baptized in recognized houses of worship, went to school, purchased land, left detailed wills (naming a huge extended family as legatees), had their photographs taken once a year -- subsequently putting said pictures in elaborate isinglass frames annotated with calligraphic inscriptions, and carved voluble and informative inscriptions in their headstones. I want relatives who managed to bury their predecessors in established, still-extant (and indexed) cemeteries. I want family members who wrote memoirs, who enlisted in the military as officers and who served in strategically important (and well-documented) skirmishes. I want relatives who served as councilmen, schoolteachers, county clerks and town historians. I want relatives who `religiously' wrote in the family Bible, journalizing every little event and detailing the familial relationship of every visitor. In the case of immigrant progenitors, I want them to have arrived only in those years wherein passenger lists were indexed by National Archives, and I want them to have applied for citizenship, and to have done so only in those jurisdictions which have since established indices. I want relatives who were patriotic and clubby, who joined every patrimonial society they could find, who kept diaries, and listed all their addresses, who had paintings made of their houses, and who dated every piece of paper they touched. I want forebears who were wealthy enough to afford, and to keep for generations, the tribal homestead, and who left all the aforementioned pictures and diaries and journals intact in the library. But most of all, I want relatives I can FIND!!! To contact Listowner: Rena Worthen [email protected] View the Floyd County Virginia Website at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floyd.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

This is what I want too!!   Linda in Ca ________________________________ From: M K MORRIS <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 8:12:02 PM Subject: [VAFLOYD] I Want This was posted on the McDonald List and I thought it was so well wished that I had to share - but then where would be all the fun we have on our Lists as we sort out who was the father, son, uncle, cousin, or just an important neighbor? I came across this piece somewhere in my rambling searches (my apologies to the author ~ if I knew your name, I'd give you credit). Funny every time I read it! Sums it up very well, je pense. Happy hunting, all! I WANT I want ancestors with names like Rudimentary Montagnard or Melchizenick von Steubenhoffmannschild or Spetznatz Giafortoni, not William Brown or John Hunter or Mary Abbott. I want ancestors who could read and write, had their children baptized in recognized houses of worship, went to school, purchased land, left detailed wills (naming a huge extended family as legatees), had their photographs taken once a year -- subsequently putting said pictures in elaborate isinglass frames annotated with calligraphic inscriptions, and carved voluble and informative inscriptions in their headstones. I want relatives who managed to bury their predecessors in established, still-extant (and indexed) cemeteries. I want family members who wrote memoirs, who enlisted in the military as officers and who served in strategically important (and well-documented) skirmishes. I want relatives who served as councilmen, schoolteachers, county clerks and town historians. I want relatives who `religiously' wrote in the family Bible, journalizing every little event and detailing the familial relationship of every visitor. In the case of immigrant progenitors, I want them to have arrived only in those years wherein passenger lists were indexed by National Archives, and I want them to have applied for citizenship, and to have done so only in those jurisdictions which have since established indices. I want relatives who were patriotic and clubby, who joined every patrimonial society they could find, who kept diaries, and listed all their addresses, who had paintings made of their houses, and who dated every piece of paper they touched. I want forebears who were wealthy enough to afford, and to keep for generations, the tribal homestead, and who left all the aforementioned pictures and diaries and journals intact in the library. But most of all, I want relatives I can FIND!!! To contact Listowner: Rena Worthen [email protected] View the Floyd County Virginia Website at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floyd.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message