Why I love genealogy

I am currently reading Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper. A passage early on in the book resonated with me.

"History can provide comfort in difficult or even turbulent and traumatic times. It shows us what our species has been through before and that we survived. It can help to know we've made it through more than one dark age. And history is vitally important because perhaps as much as, if not more than biology, the past owns us and however much we think we can, we cannot escape it. If you only knew how close you are to people who seem so far from you......it would astonish you.

Also, it's a way of honouring those who came before us. We can tell their stories. Wouldn't you want someone to tell your story? Ultimately, it's the best proof there is that we mattered. And what else is life from the time you were born but a struggle to matter, at least to someone?"

There are so many stories to tell about our ancestors to show that we do honour them and that they do matter. Some ancestor's stories have yet to be uncovered, others have much to tell. I wonder what story I will uncover next?

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Caroline Chisholm

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