Apparently the postman only rings once when it comes to my family history quest. My attempts to cajole my parents, aunts and uncles into providing me with more detail and insight into the family history, particularly of my grandparents, has failed to garner but one response. Three months ago, I sent SASE with a questionnaire to be answered, and only my parents have responded.
I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Everyone has a busy life, and most are not as interested in family history as I am. Maybe they feel that they’ve already answered the questions in the past. I had hoped to have already sent out additional questionnaires, but based on the lack of response, I think I’m going to abandon this project.
The questionnaire asked four questions for my relatives : 1) When and where did you meet your spouse 2) When and where did you get married/Go on your honeymoon 3) What was the most difficult thing about being a newly married couple 4) What advice would you give to someone today who was contemplating a serious relationship. I had hoped that beyond the facts, their answers would give some insight to flesh out the life stories of my parents, aunts and uncles.
The questionnaire also asked each family to tell me what I should know about both their mother and father. I was hoping that this would spur some reflection and also provide me with their recollections of their parents, as my grandfathers died when I was young and one grandmother died when I was in high school, the other while I was in college.
Perhaps they feel it’s best to let the past be the past, but I have a curiosity about my grandparents and others that I was hoping to have answered.
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