History and Genealogy

So, why did you start researching your ancestry? Have you always been a history buff? A lot of people start off their research just curious about their great grandparents and those that came before them. Many people have conjured romantic images of Presidents, Kings, Princes, Queens, Knights and other notables in the distant past. There is a joke about some people that claim their family are direct descendants of George Washington. The real joke here is that George Washington had no direct descendants. (Nephews, nieces and cousins are a completely different story.)

Let me give you something for you to chew on for a while: we are all descended from royalty. What is that you say? You haven’t received the family greeting cards from Her Majesty? Well, let me tell you how I’ve come to that conclusion after many years of research and countless times having stumbled across supposed “gateway ancestors” and a little bit of math. To start let’s look at just pure math. Read the rest of this entry »

Ellen Lupton, the curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the director of the master’s program in graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art recently posted a well written and humorous article in the opinion section of the NY Times about the angst of having inherited stuff from the past. It appears that her need to eliminate clutter trumps her archival gene… something I didn’t expect from a curator.

Of course, you know that there are always opposites in life, even extremes: throw the baby out with the bathwater is at the opposite end of the spectrum as not being able to throw anything away for fear. Some inner emotional balance is required in this discussion that, surprisingly, has a lot at stake. Read the rest of this entry »