Family history?

Question:

Family history?

It seems to me that some people think that family history/ genealogy is irrelevant or boring, while others are interested or really absorbed in researching and learning about it. I am interested myself, and am wondering what about it gets other people interested (or really not interested if you want to answer). Thank you.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Most hobbies are like that. I know a fellow who saved for five years to go to Alaska and have a bush pilot fly him to a lake in the wilderness. He spent a week fighting black flies and living in a tent. He caught (and released) arctic char two to three feet long and as thick as my leg; he was in seventh heaven. I know another man who thinks "Roughing it" means staying in a hotel that doesn't have valet parking.

Genealogy is like bird watching for me; a harmless hobby with the thrill of a (slow) chase and elements of a detective story. It's also the closest most of us will ever get to a personal slice of history. If you are an American with European roots, someone in your tree probably fought in a war, stole land from the Indians, or came through Ellis Island with nothing more than a packet of clothes and the determination that their children would breathe free.

When I record a wedding in the backwoods of Virginia in 1803, I wonder - what it was like; did someone play the fiddle, and did they dance on the hard packed dirt between the house and the barn? A child is born in 1867 and dies in 1868; I thank the Lord that we have vaccines and antibiotics now. Someone comes over from Europe in 1754 with his family; I wonder if he called them to the rail of the ship and said, "Look! There it is, America! No one can step on you now just because you are a Huguenot." (Mennonite, Anabaptist, Italian, Irishman, Pole, Protestant, Catholic, Jew . . .)