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In our own Indian family, family history is mostly an oral tradition. My grandparents and their relatives tell stories of their own relatives, so we know of a m

In our own Indian family, family history is mostly an oral tradition. My grandparents and their relatives tell stories of their own relatives, so we know of a mythical great-great-grandfather who was apparently a doctor-on-horseback. My own parents know this history, but to a lesser extent, and given the rise of nuclear families, I am (and I suspect the other relatives of my generation) even less aware of this history. In any case, written records are mostly unavailable. Our personal family history from the pre-1950 period is fading, and most of our history from before the 20th century is lost. We have our own stories to tell, and they'll eventually be forgotten too. It's sad to see older relatives grow frail, forget things, and die, but I've never felt a sense of historical loss. Maybe I'm not old enough, and I'm not sure whether it is appropriate to generalize to all Indian families or whether it is only our family which is an oddball, but I've always been curious about the western interest in recording genealogies.

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
> Maybe I'm not old enough, and I'm not sure whether it is appropriate to generalize to all Indian families or whether it is only our family which is an oddball, but I've always been curious about the western interest in recording genealogies. If feels like we of European descent have all of the genealogical advantages. For most other folks, gleaning their family data seems to vary between brutal and impossible.
- datameta 3y ago
  Tangentially, I have geneology gaps due to WW2. My great-grandfathers perished defending unknown cities with the Soviet Army. Afaik one was sent to take out tanks with improvized AT weapons at best, the other I know nothing of. During the Battle for Odesa and the following occupation by the Axis forces many records were lost. My grandmother on my dad's side grew up during the occupation. Thankfully my mom's side evacuated (Jewish) potentially due to my maternal great grandmother having been part of the defense as a field doctor and helped organize evacuation via ships. She received medals for her efforts including Order of the Red Star. She was able to get on the last ship to leave. After the war she counted 28 relatives lost due to war or holocaust. Some decades later her nephew made a booklet about the widely extended family tree despite spotty records at best. I know it took many years of research on his part, I should ask where our copy is. That maybe took a dark turn at some point - but I was thinking primarily about how armed conflict has the potential to erase history.
  - WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
    > but I was thinking primarily about how armed conflict has the potential to erase history. One notable exception was a cache of church records found in a church basement in Germany a little while back. Sixteenth to 19th century I think. Can't recall if they are Catholic or Lutheran. They were quickly translated and put online. They included my uncle's line; the details and quality were kind of amazing.
    - datameta 3y ago
      Great news! Did the church survive due to attempts to avoid hitting it with munitions? Or was it simply the basement ceiling was thick enough?
asielen 3y ago
Many European countries have records going back to the 1600s as does the US so there is just a wealth of information. Americans are generally fascinated with people's origins and origin stories. I am sure some of that is historically - unfortunately -racially motivated. But also we are taught from an early age that the United States is a melting pot and we are fascinated by the immigrant story. The motivations on why someone would pick up and leave everyone they know to move to a new unknown place and also the cultures they bring with them. With that, Americans also don't accept the United States as someplace people are from. Even if you're family has been here for 500 years, people still want to know where you're family came from originally. Only the indigenous Americans are "from" America. The United States is young and with so many people coming from somewhere else, it is also a chance to connect with history. It can be fun to find an ancestor that fought in the revolutionary war, or was part of the Salem witch trials etc. It makes our history more real, and we have a lot less history to connect to than most of the rest of the world. For me personally, it somewhat is inspiration and motivation. If any of my ancestors lived a different life, I wouldn't be here. If my great great grandfather didn't survive dysentery in the civil war, I wouldn't be here. I have family that left Ireland during the famine, following their history helps me contextualize big historical events. And helps me realize that people who weren't I only recently started capturing my 97 year old grandfather's stories. Making it a project had helped me connect more with him. He grew up in a completely different world. Hearing his experiences listening to WWII breaking out or even little things like seeing his first movie and then his first color movie is so much more impactful than reading about the era in a book.
- sigstoat 3y ago
  > With that, Americans also don't accept the United States as someplace people are from. Nonsense. > Even if you're family has been here for 500 years, people still want to know where you're family came from originally. I can only recall one person ever being unsatisfied by the name of a state when asking where I was from, and they were satisfied when I named a city.
d0gsg0w00f 3y ago
If you can I would recommend getting a voice recorder and sit down at a table with tea and get them talking. One of my family members does this a lot and it's really cool to hear my deceased family's voice from time to time.

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago

> Maybe I'm not old enough, and I'm not sure whether it is appropriate to generalize to all Indian families or whether it is only our family which is an oddball, but I've always been curious about the western interest in recording genealogies. If feels like we of European descent have all of the genealogical advantages. For most other folks, gleaning their family data seems to vary between brutal and impossible.

datameta 3y ago
Tangentially, I have geneology gaps due to WW2. My great-grandfathers perished defending unknown cities with the Soviet Army. Afaik one was sent to take out tanks with improvized AT weapons at best, the other I know nothing of. During the Battle for Odesa and the following occupation by the Axis forces many records were lost. My grandmother on my dad's side grew up during the occupation. Thankfully my mom's side evacuated (Jewish) potentially due to my maternal great grandmother having been part of the defense as a field doctor and helped organize evacuation via ships. She received medals for her efforts including Order of the Red Star. She was able to get on the last ship to leave. After the war she counted 28 relatives lost due to war or holocaust. Some decades later her nephew made a booklet about the widely extended family tree despite spotty records at best. I know it took many years of research on his part, I should ask where our copy is. That maybe took a dark turn at some point - but I was thinking primarily about how armed conflict has the potential to erase history.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
  > but I was thinking primarily about how armed conflict has the potential to erase history. One notable exception was a cache of church records found in a church basement in Germany a little while back. Sixteenth to 19th century I think. Can't recall if they are Catholic or Lutheran. They were quickly translated and put online. They included my uncle's line; the details and quality were kind of amazing.
  - datameta 3y ago
    Great news! Did the church survive due to attempts to avoid hitting it with munitions? Or was it simply the basement ceiling was thick enough?

asielen 3y ago

Many European countries have records going back to the 1600s as does the US so there is just a wealth of information. Americans are generally fascinated with people's origins and origin stories. I am sure some of that is historically - unfortunately -racially motivated. But also we are taught from an early age that the United States is a melting pot and we are fascinated by the immigrant story. The motivations on why someone would pick up and leave everyone they know to move to a new unknown place and also the cultures they bring with them. With that, Americans also don't accept the United States as someplace people are from. Even if you're family has been here for 500 years, people still want to know where you're family came from originally. Only the indigenous Americans are "from" America. The United States is young and with so many people coming from somewhere else, it is also a chance to connect with history. It can be fun to find an ancestor that fought in the revolutionary war, or was part of the Salem witch trials etc. It makes our history more real, and we have a lot less history to connect to than most of the rest of the world. For me personally, it somewhat is inspiration and motivation. If any of my ancestors lived a different life, I wouldn't be here. If my great great grandfather didn't survive dysentery in the civil war, I wouldn't be here. I have family that left Ireland during the famine, following their history helps me contextualize big historical events. And helps me realize that people who weren't I only recently started capturing my 97 year old grandfather's stories. Making it a project had helped me connect more with him. He grew up in a completely different world. Hearing his experiences listening to WWII breaking out or even little things like seeing his first movie and then his first color movie is so much more impactful than reading about the era in a book.

sigstoat 3y ago
> With that, Americans also don't accept the United States as someplace people are from. Nonsense. > Even if you're family has been here for 500 years, people still want to know where you're family came from originally. I can only recall one person ever being unsatisfied by the name of a state when asking where I was from, and they were satisfied when I named a city.

d0gsg0w00f 3y ago

If you can I would recommend getting a voice recorder and sit down at a table with tea and get them talking. One of my family members does this a lot and it's really cool to hear my deceased family's voice from time to time.