mtaggartWhen J. Paul Hawthorne shared his colorful five generation pedigree recently on Facebook, it quickly went viral. It was a fun idea and I couldn’t help but jump in and participate.
Simple in nature, it nonetheless has generated some interesting realizations as well as new questions for me.
We know that for every major move in an ancestor’s life, there was generally a push and a pull. Something pushed them into moving from a location and something pulled them to the new location.
While I know the reason for some of the moves my ancestors made, I realized that for other moves, I have no idea what motivated them and so more research is needed.
I also realized that I don’t know where some of the couples from different locations met, so I would like to learn more about them.
The graph also underscores why my DNA test at Ancestry estimates my ethnicity as 37% Scandinavian.
As I looked at the chart, I thought about the traditions that have been handed down in my family. I thought of my aebleskiver pan that has been passed down through several generations, and the tradition of biscuits and gravy for breakfast, cornbread with meals and many of the other things my family eats have likely been passed down. I can see that the predominance of Danish and Southern US heritage is apparent not only on the chart but in my life. This chart helped remind me of why my family does some of the things we do.
So while this initially began as a simple, fun activity, it underscores the benefits of finding new ways to look at our family history and how doing so can lead to new questions and consequently greater understanding.
Paul shared details about his idea on his blog, GeneaSpy which you can find HERE If you would like to make your own colorful five generation chart, he shared the template at this link.
Thank you Paul for sharing this fun idea!
Copyright © Michelle G. Taggart 2016, All rights reserved
