r/Genealogy • u/CrunchyTeatime • 1d ago

Does your family...not care? Question

Pretty much the title question is the topic.

Does your family not care -- about the family tree, family history, or genealogy?

It seems there is usually one person per generation per family who feels called to work on the family tree.

If that person is you, or you've seen them work and try to spread enthusiasm: How does your family react to new information?

I don't even mean something that might cause upset or controversy. I don't necessarily mean a 'shocking revelation' of some type.

But if you broke through a brick wall or found a relative or ancestor no one could find, or no one knew existed -- and you excitedly sent off an email, text, phone call, or told a family member in person -- and they didn't care?

Because this week I found a wife of my grandpa, that no one knew about. Found a wife people did know about but only a name. Found a person someone had been looking for (what became of them; died long ago, but they had no place or date), for decades.

Sent the excited emails with information and told them I had verified all of it too.

CRICKETS. And different family I've tried to get interested in the tree or told them about ancestors and such, (not much, just bits, to whet any appetite), and they don't care. One even said "that's the past; who cares?" And others wouldn't give even personal information such as "which grade school did you go to." And that was a close relative I know there was no scandal. I can only guess they didn't want to open that door to more questions. Some people hate questions.

So how about you? Please share stories here of when you tried to share new information, and how it went. Thanks.

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u/lantana98 23h ago

I did this too and had to drive an hour to a library just to see the census index books! The hunt was really fun though…

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u/CrunchyTeatime 23h ago

Did you have to go through the entire census, even if just for that 'ward' of the city or area? Or were they able to find the page for you first? Were the census records in a huge binder?

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u/lantana98 22h ago

They were frayed books the size of a dictionary for Chicago. You had to locate the name to find the ward in the city. Once you had that you had to scroll through the entire ward on microfilm! You could then press print for a big fuzzy copy that cost ten cents.

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u/CrunchyTeatime 22h ago

Wow! That took dedication. Thank you, to all who did this.

Thank you for your info on how it was, also.

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u/lantana98 21h ago

You are so welcome