Thursday, September 10, 2009

Some Genealogical Humour

To ensure that no one begins to think that family history is all work and 'no play,' I thought I would share a few humorous genealogy related items that you sometimes come across through the pursuit of new family history information.

This from my aunt, Carol Royle (nee Hadden): A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race appear?" The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so all mankind was made." Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, "Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved." The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they were evolved from monkeys?" The mother answered, "Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his."

One of the places, amongst others like libraries and archives, that genealogists can be found is cemeteries. While you will find most headstones that mark the graves provide the name and perhaps dates of birth and death of the deceased, there are always some creative and humorous individuals or family members that offer their own slant on their mortality.

In Key West, Florida, the headstone of Elmer Hodges states, "I told you I was sick." In a Thurmont, Maryland cemetery, a headstone reads, "Here lies an Atheist, All dressed up, and no place to go." When Harry Edsel Smith passed away in 1942 in Albany, New York, his family inscribed his headstone "Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was." More recently and reflecting our electronic age, one family inscribed a young man's headstone "He came, he saw, he logged out."

Finally, on a different note, I want to thank all of you who have been visiting my blog. Almost 350 visits have been made to this site in the just over three weeks that I have been sharing my family history and genealogy tips and techniques. Please continue to visit often and if you have any questions, comments or additional information, stories and photos that you would like to share, please contact me at ian.hadden@rogers.com.

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