Living in the Past?

The Abraham Lincoln quote on the front page of the dynastyDB page ( ‘I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.’ ) is exactly how I thought of genealogy. I saw researching family history as trying to live in the past when the future beckons. Now, though I can tell the difference.

I know a few people who always harp on about the ‘good old days’. Some of them hold onto people and things that do nothing in building them up for the future. Family History is not that. I now see genealogy as a new way to look at history and there are lessons to be learnt. Knowing the past helps you decide what to do in the future otherwise you could end up where you started, in most cases, not exactly where you want to be.

Well, I’m back to trying to get the West Riding Ellis pages completed.

Cheers