Posted on 05/08/2008 3:18:15 PM PDT by forkinsocket
Leo McKinstry says the current craze for genealogy reflects an unhealthy combination of snobbery and inverse snobbery, and is a poor replacement for national history
When I visited the National Archives at Kew last week the place was full of them, scurrying about with their plastic wallets in hand, a look of eager concentration on their faces. It was impossible to escape their busy presence as they whispered noisily to relatives or whooped over the discovery of some new piece of information.
These were the followers of one of Britain’s fastest-growing craze, the mania for researching family history. Studying bloodlines and tracing ancestral roots was once the preserve of the aristocracy. Today, as I saw at the National Archives, it has become a favourite activity of the British public. We are becoming a nation of obsessive genealogists. According to a recent study by the polling organisation YouGov, 28 per cent of British people have tried at some stage to trace their family tree, and 10 per cent of the population are currently doing so. It is said that genealogy websites are the most commonly visited on the internet after pornography. The website Genes Reunited, which claims to be ‘the UK’s number one family tree and genealogy site’, boasts that it has no fewer than eight million members. Another major web company, Find My Past, says that it has a registered usership of 1.32 million people and a mailing list of almost 600,000.
Ten years ago, there was just one mainstream genealogy magazine. Now there are seven. Another indicator of this fixation with family history is the phenomenal success of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, whose weekly episodes feature different celebrities tracing their roots.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.co.uk ...
My wife did a geneology search on both mine and her family a couple summers ago. What we discovered only increased our national pride, not diminished it.
The family, not the state, is the foundation stone of society, and thus history. I am very interested in my bloodlines...and I teach them to my children and grandchildren. It is important to know who we are, where we came from, and the lessons learned from our ancestors. I see nothing wrong with the study of genealogy.
Well stated. I love genealogy. I never thought I would say that. It is neat tying in the historical era with ancestors.
I have known for years that we have NA ancestors but one cousin does not want that fact mentioned. I feel sorry for him since that is what made us what we are today. Just wish I could find out more information on her.
GENEALOGY n. The tracing of descent from ancestors; alternatively, a particular account of such tracing for a specific individual or family. In the English-speaking world, all those who take up this pursuit announce sooner or later that they can trace their descent back to Edward III. This should surprise no one with a rudimentary knowledge of mathematics; there are probably one or two well-bred basset hounds who could also trace their descent back to Edward III. What is really surprising is that Edward III seems to be regarded as some kind of ultimate antecedent beyond whom the genealogist does not venture, even though anyone descended from Edward III is also descended from his father Edward II, and so on. The author can guess only that the prudery of the late Victorian age (when genealogy became a family pastime) chose to draw a veil before the memory of Edward II in view of the sybaritic Plantagenet’s bisexual reputation and appalling death (see impalement).— Peter Bowler, The Superior Person’s Book of Words.
Where does this phrase come from?
When I learned US History as a kid, I learned about important events in our Nations history. When I studied my genealogy I learned that my ancestors were there. Fighting in those wars, moving West. They lived the history I only read about and it became more alive to me.
I’m not familiar with what “NA” refers to.
Well said, indeed.
I happen to believe I’ll meet the ansestors on the other side so looking up their names now is a total waste of time. I agree with the author.
It seems this author doesn’t have an appreciation for history. Family histories are important to people within the family, nothing wrong with that! If the conversation bores you, politely say so and move on. Don’t criticize the interests of others and decry it as “bunk.”
Liberals would like to ban genealogy studies because it discriminates against the artifically-inseminated & surrogated children of gay couples.
Same here with what we learned about my family’s history.
It sounds as though Leo McKinstry is a bit ticked off that he doesn’t have the library archives all to himself anymore ... the peasants are running amuck and Leo has decided to do something about it ... whine!
My father's side of the family goes back into Georgia into the late 1600s and very early 1700s. They escaped England so they could worship ALmighty God as they saw fit. From their they literally spread across the nation, north and south...east and west.
My mother's family came from eastern Europe (Slovak Republic area) in the mid to late 1800s, and her father came from Austria right around the turn of the century. They escaped despotism and persecution and poverty to find a new life in America. They were successful.
Both families sacrificed life's blood in defending freedom and this nation.
The contention that somehow it is wrong to take pride in these things is ludicrous. I guess it depends on what a person is looking for and what they want to hold up.
Native American. Sorry!
Ping.
Native American I would suppose ... unless, of course, it's North African.
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