I have been told by a couple of folks that it is inappropriate to put "suicide" or information about said event in family tree info. How do you folks feel about that? Couldn't such info be pertinent? Zorina

Such sensitivity should apply perhaps to recently deceased cases with still-living immediate family, but I see no reason at all to omit such facts about our ancestors from family trees or genealogies. In fact, it would seem somewhat dishonest to knowingly omit them. Most suicides result from depression or other medical conditions no longer thought shameful, and only occasionally (now) from great personal embarrassment (financial failure, e.g.) In any case, the stories of such acts are pertinent - they not only make our ancestors more real and human to us, but their careful documentation could even help families recognize and understand inherited patterns of behavior or other conditons such as mental illnesses. I have at least one documented suicide in our tree, one murder victim, one disappearance, one really gruesome accident, one TB death, one senile "idiot", and one retarded child, as well as an early alcoholic, publicly admonished in his father's will, and a more recent one with a drinking problem as well. They sure make for more interesting reading than just a dry recitation of "begets". --- "Zorina A. Chaffin" <zorina@visuallink.com> wrote: > I have been told by a couple of folks that it > is inappropriate to put > "suicide" or information about said event in > family tree info. How do you > folks feel about that? Couldn't such info be > pertinent? > Zorina > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 http://search.yahoo.com/top2003

At 10:50 PM 01/03/2004 -0500, you wrote: >I have been told by a couple of folks that it is inappropriate to put >"suicide" or information about said event in family tree info. How do you >folks feel about that? Couldn't such info be pertinent? >Zorina Depends. If suicide happened 50 years or more ago, I've put it in -- because the generation most affected has also died. If it happened last week, I've put it in -- because it made the newspapers and it's no secret. In between, I've waffled (g); if *I* found it in a newspaper, I've included it, but if it was only on the death certificate, I've left it out. Other medical information -- I don't share most of it, but I keep track of it and share discretely if it seems appropriate. With health and life insurance companies getting so nosy, it doesn't seem right to pass out information that COULD affect someone else. This help? *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Cheryl Singhal (Singhals@erols.com) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cpafug/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvhampsh/ http://bottonycross.purpleflowers.net (Bottony Cross DAR) http://www.rootsweb.com/~cresap/ http://members.fortunecity.com/csinghal1/ (Joanna Waddill UDC)