It seems that several years ago my Great-Uncle, Jim Richardson [ father: William Harmon RICHARDSON mother: Louetta Christine WISE ] got interested in climbing the family tree. Lucky for him many of the older generation were still alive to talk to. Unlucky for the rest of the family he found some information that "disturbed" him. He boxed everything up and stuffed it in the attic, or somewhere, that has since become unavailable. He _never_ would talk about the family after that Family speculation was that he found out the WISE branch was Jewish. A few years ago I mentioned this story in a genealogy chat room. One of the participants opened a private chat and asked me how I personally felt about that possibility. I told him that I had already found a big time lawyer in my tree so..................no big deal. [ Now don't any lawyers on the list start flaming me - OK. ] He said that was a pretty good attitude. -- Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.

Billie, I wonder if it is a Wise family trait to box up the genealogy and hide it when they find something they don't like. In my branch of the James Wise from South Carolina, there was a cousin that did extensive work on the Wise line, then one day she came to a screeching halt, told her daughter that she did not need to go into any more researching. From that day forward she has refused to even discuss what she found that made her stop. Becky in Tennessee

For whole generations being "Jewish" or of "Jewish Descent" was unacceptable. Being a "Jew" was to be something dirty. To re-phrase and old joke, "You can pick your nose and you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your ancestors." Historically probably not "all" but a good number of our "WISE" ancestors probably were of Jewish descent. I'm sure a lot of good information has been lost because those that discovered their Jewish roots couldn't accept it and hid their work. It's really a shame. I remember a news story from several years ago about a high society "white" lady in Louisiana that for whatever reason needed her birth certificate. On the birth certificate it showed her race as "Black". She was incensed. It seems that under Louisiana law if there was one black ancestor all children were recorded as black from then on. She was suing the state over it. Being "Black" was not acceptable for her. She was ashamed of that small part of her ancestry. I feel like no one should ever be ashamed of where they came from. If I have/had a Jewish G Grandmother then I had a Jewish G Grandmother. Although I only have one clear memory of her from my childhood I remember that she loved all her family and that her family loved her. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Becky Campbell wrote: > Billie, > I wonder if it is a Wise family trait to box up the genealogy and hide it when they find something they don't like. > In my branch of the James Wise from South Carolina, there was a cousin that did extensive work on the Wise line, then one day she came to a screeching halt, told her daughter that she did not need to go into any more researching. From that day forward she has refused to even discuss what she found that made her stop. > > Becky in Tennessee -- Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.