Friday, September 6, 2013

Temptation!

This is a guest post by my wife, Michele. Thank you, Dear!

Do you tend to “branch out” on your quest for answers in your genealogical research? Are you even tempted to do so? And by branching out, I don’t mean finding a person where you have to use Google to figure out how you are related, like your maternal grandmother’s second cousins brother twice removed kind of thing.

Here’s a little example of my temptation. My great uncle, William V. Capen, was a pilot stationed in France during WWI. He died November 3rd, 1918 from injuries received in an airplane accident, just days before the war ended. By studying his obituary, I found that not only were his parents and 3 sisters mentioned, but also a fiancée. The lives of the surviving family members can be traced throughout my ancestry, but I often wonder what happened to the fiancée? Did she eventually find her Mr. Right and live happily ever after or was she so grief stricken by the loss? Was she accepted by the family and did they stay in touch? Many, many unanswered questions.

I imagine it being like the best book you ever read being turned into a Hollywood movie. Suddenly, the main character of the book that was a villain with jet black hair and who dies in the end, turns into the blond surfer dude that gets the fair maiden and lives happily ever after; a major disappointment. So, do I really want to know the answers? No, not really…some things are just better left tucked away in the little closet of my imagination.

Do you have any stories you are tempted to search out but won’t because you are afraid you might be disappointed? Let us know in the comments.

Michele

Photo courtesy of: D. Boyarrin

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