Last of the Line

It's a very depressing thought to realize that in many ways your family will end with you. It occurred to me as I began the feat of typing up a new Jones family history and decendency list that I am the only record keeper that I know of for the Jones family. This of course may be a misnomer since I am removed from some of my Jones cousins and they may also be researching as well. I do have researching relatives that I just discovered for the Mills family through my Grandmother. These second cousins however are researching thier surnames Bryants and Mills as a main focus however. My Great Aunt Arvilla is also a genealogy hobbyist but she too is removed in her focus from me by being a child of the Wismer and Craig families. Recently she did show me a indirect relationship to the Jones but for the most part her research is Wismer centered. My cousin once removed follows his father's tree for the Kettlewell family.

David, my father and Joseph my grandfather had focused most of their energy strictly on the paternal line for Grant's so once my Father dies that will be it. I doubt it would do much good for me to pick up that research since the majority of it is taken up by Day and Morford researchers anyway, both popular families. In fact recently a Day family third cousin contacted me out of the blue for acquiring a photo of his grandfather. I must admit he was quite rude considering we haven't met. There is also the more personal side to this that I am the last of the Grant children carrying the Grant genetic line or more likely the Street family genetics. My Father once thought that neither my sister or I would have children and it truly broke his heart to think that he had failed to continue the family somehow.

Here I sit however the only researcher that I know looking into the Jones family. All of my Grandfathers generation has now past and most of the children are lost in time in my mothers age as well. I have yet to find a close relative my own age who researches which seems such a shame. In a way then I guess it is fate that I have such good instincts with the Jones/Boussey line since I might be the last to devote time to it.

Echoing the Past

A while back I decided to make separate ancestry trees for my parents respectively. I did this because I did not believe I could safely navigate anymore a populous list of over 4,000 relatives. I wanted to have details for each person and truly discover them as a form of respect.
Unfortunately I have not given my fathers lineage the attention it deserves. I updated my own file the other day only to realize that his tree needed duplicate entries that I would have to hand type again. This I feel takes away from valuable time I have to review censuses and data mine for long lost fellows.
Perhaps I have not mentioned them before but my fathers Grandmother was of the Street family in Missouri. After a horrible tragedy in the family involving a murder suicide they withdrew themselves from each other and in fact little records remain. I am having a similar experience in current time where I am both lacking resources to find data and have to deal with my fathers reluctance to share information. Geneology had been a hobby he shared with my grandfather and I don't think he could ever part with his many boxes of hand written notes.

Most recently he entrusted me with the published book following our Grant lines from the original Scottish ancestor who settled King George, Virginia. That data however has holes and many misgivings. My Grandfather Joseph was only interested in following his paternal line so any information gathered otherwise is most likely unsorted sitting in the boxes on my fathers attic floor. The crypto-Judaism line is also amoung that neglected work. While I do praise my dad's willingness to share stories by word of mouth I would love to see pictures and letters that I consider a real way to organically and emotionally connect. I of course cannot blame my fathers since I too have fallen pray to favoritism within my mothers tree, the Fillies du roi line and the Metis Dufour. I believe a rebinding is called for if only to realign my focus.