Tretower Genealogy Research

This past month (July 2008) I wasn’t able to conduct much genealogical research.  In fact, most of the postings on my Vaughan Pioneer group were such things as prayer requests or bits of information on what various members were doing.  Some of our members took offense at that, feeling that the group should be only for Genealogy.  I have to disagree.  As a family gets larger, through the generations, the connection to it’s past gets more and more misty until finally a descendant, several generations removed, feels no ties to his great great great grandparents at all.  I feel what makes a person who he or she is today depends mostly on your family (or lack thereof) friends/Peer group, and the society and culture you were raised in.

When looking at the Vaughan Pioneer group with it’s 214 members (as of August 2nd, 2008) you see a diverse group of people spread all over the United States and a few other places.  Through Genealogy we may have ties with our past, but many don’t have ties to each other at all, and some, when others in the group share personal bits of information, feel very uncomfortable.  I feel that part of the success of our Vaughan group has been the attempt to bridge the gap between Genealogical research and a sense of family, or at least “extended family” in the modern sense.  So I am not at all offended or made awkward when our members share bits of their modern life with the rest of us.  I think it is good for the hobby and more importantly in this modern, computerized age, good for us as human beings.