family contacts

This morning I had another e-mail from a very distant relative in Germany. Through the Ancestry.com site and my online subscription, I have several online trees posted and open for public view. By the way, these trees are privatized. Privatized means if it has been 100 years or less since your reported birthdate and no death date has been reported, your information is not viewed publicly. That keeps personal information private so no one can see any information about a living individual without their permission. I take everyone's identity serious and take all measures to ensure identity theft is not ian issue. Sadly, it is identity thieves that make getting research information harder and harder to obtain.

I have many family members here that have asked for family information and I gladly share the ancestors information but not any on the living individuals without their specific consent. There are many cousins and cousins cousins ect. many may know of this family branch or that buit not the whole picture. Some relatives choose to remain somewhat annonymous and I honor those wishes. Others want to "over share" a little too much information. As a sort of self appointed family historian for the Clark side and a minor historian for the Wilz side, I get information from fmaily memebrs and add that to the ever continuing family tree.

I actually have several trees going at present. I need to consolidate them and sort through, re-organize and discard a great deal of information I have obtained over the last few years. It seems that my intrest in the family tree project and even the book I am working on move into and out of priority. At present, I am somewhat focused on a number of things that do not include family tree. With the upcoming retirement and subsequent move getting closer, I have been concentrating on organizing stuff, packing, fixing up and planning for new.

We, my husband Mike, my mother and myself are going to be moving in October. That means we are also fixing and selling this house in Irving, sorting and packing stuff here and making the plans for a new home and garage in New Mexico. I am also still trying to work full time ( or close to it) with getting runs delayed or cancelled. My job driving a truck keeps me away from home for periods of 28-48 hours at a time. There isn't much you can do while driving down the road..except drive down the road. Mike is retired and he can do some stuff while I am gone. Mom doesn't do a lot, she is getting pretty frail and her hands have started to atrophy a little from not using them as much as she should.

Back to the trees, I have received a letter from  a guy in Germany that is related through my Great-Grandmothers family. I am not sure of the exact relationship but we have common ancestors. I find that making contact with distant relatives is somewhat gratifying.  Finding others with the same family heritage often gives a little different perspective on the lives of our ancestors. For instance, This relative in Germany, 1) How did his family end up in Germany or my branch end up in Russia prior to WWI? 2) Why does one branch of a family pull up stakes and travel halfway around the earth for a new life, and the remainder stay in the Home country? 3) Are there any family resemblences/ traits common in both branches of families? 4) What were the religious, political or social positions of the various families? Just a few points to consider when delving into an extensive family tree across generations and countries and philosophies.