Who are you, where did you come from, do you have any famous relatives? Well today is the day to try and find out. It’s Roots Day, celebrated for over 40 years.
Most of us are interested in where our families came from. Some names are easy to track back, others are not… like Smith or Jones… but no matter what your name is, there is a history that goes along with it. (That is unless you are a test-tube baby.)
I can only use my own family as an example. We don’t know a lot about them but we have found a few interesting tidbits. One of my grandmothers relatives all lived in Scotland and Ireland. One lived in a little known shire named Nottingham. He was a peasant and one day while roaming the woods he found a Knight had fallen from his horse and in all that armour couldn’t get back up. So being the kind and helpful create he was, he was probably a thief and looking for a quick coin, he helped the Knight to his feet, and then onto his horse. As the story goes it happened to be the King he had helped up and the King made him the Earl of Nottingham for his actions. In legend, the Earl of Nottingham was the basis for the story of Robin Hood. Now, we all know Robin Hood was fiction, and probably so is this story, but it was written by a genealogist in the UK so who am I to say!
My other grandmother proudly held a document that entitled her to the Daughters of the Revolution claiming that one of her relatives served as an officer in Washington’s Guard during the Revolutionary War. Who’s to say, I wasn’t there but it’s fun to imagine one of my relatives was. There are all sorts of trails my family has going back in time, some good, some bad and some (Like Robin Hood) probably totally fabricated. But you know what, it doesn’t matter. It makes for fun conversation and adds a little pride to the family name, real of not.
So why not with the holidays coming up, family gathered for the holiday and no one wants to talk about politics anymore, find out a little about your family tree. It may not lead you to the roots you wanted but at least you’ll know a little more about who your family is and what the accomplished.
How to celebrate – Investigate your ancestory. Start your own family tree. Make up your own history and try on get your family to believe it!
Unboxing the Bizarre™ 