I'm thinking about starting a community Group for those interested in the study and discussion of genealogy /family history. Though the Group wouldn’t necessarily be political in nature, I believe one can gain a broader perspective of today’s current hot-button issues, such as immigration and racism, through study of one’s own family history. I have found that researching my family’s records, our personal human history, has brought me greater understanding of the challenges currently faced by humankind, with a deeper appreciation of its accomplishments and potential failures.
Genealogy can be a lot of fun. Like finding out secrets that some of the family members tried to keep quiet. For instance, discovering your g-grandfather traveled back to his place of birth in Germany with a woman – who wasn’t his wife! Or discovering that your German Catholic g-g-grandmother married your g-g-grandfather only a few months before the birth of their first child – and then lied about it.
Of course, there are always nobler reasons for studying family history. For example, when studying my husband’s family history, I found that in 1871, his g-g-grandfather in North Carolina had been attacked by and fought against the newly-formed KuKluxKlan, which eventually cost him his life. Or that my g-grandmother had to tote bricks at a construction site in order to earn enough to support her 8 children when her husband fell seriously ill shortly after immigrating in 1882 (German woman – big and strong like bull!).
So I’m trying to gauge the amount of interest that Kossacks might have in such a group. I’m particularly interested in finding out if there are others who would like to help out with the writing, as my participation could be at times somewhat irregular.