1. |
The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be a hanging. |
2. | When at last after much hard work you have solved the mystery that you have been working on for two years, your aunt says, "I could have told you that". |
3. | You search ten years for your grandmother's maiden name to eventually find it on a letter in a box in the attic. |
4. | You never asked your father about his family when he was alive because you weren't interested in genealogy then. |
5. | The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic. |
6. | Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames. |
7. | John, son of Thomas the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family progenitor, died on board ship at the age of 10. |
8. | Your great grandfather's newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no issue of record. |
9. | Another genealogist has just insulted the keeper of the vital records you need. |
10. | The relative who had all the family photographs gave them to her daughter who has no interest in genealogy and no inclination to share. |
11. | The only record you find for your great grandfather is that his property was sold at auction. |
12. | The one document that would supply the missing link in your dead end line has been lost due to fire, flood, or war. |
13. | The town clerk to whom you wrote for information sends you a long handwritten letter which is totally illegible. |
14. | Your ancestors' name changed from county to county due to local accents, and according to whether or not the registrar could spell. |
15. | None of the pictures in your recently deceased grandmother's photo album have names written on them. |
16. | No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, owned property, was sued or was named in a will. |
17. | You learn that your great aunt's executor just sold her life's collection of family genealogical materials to a dealer in his local pub. |
18. | Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportionate to the value of the data recorded. |
19. | The 37 volume, 16,000 page history of your county of origin isn't indexed. |
20. | You evenutally locate your great grandparents' wedding record and discover that the bride's father was John Smith. |
21. | When, finally, you have a wonderful collection of ancestors and documents, you discover there was an alternative spelling for your father's hometown, and that he was adopted... |
The End
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