Why Do Genealogy? - The Genealogian

What's the point?

I estimate, conservatively, that I have spent 7900 hours of my life seeking information about insignificant dead people. Not trying to pick on them. They are insignificant in that they are not—usually—the likes of Shaka Zulu or Susan B. Anthony. Nobody is going to publish a two-volume biography about these folks, not even a paragraph. They are my family, my wife’s family, friends’ families, cousins’ families, clients’ families, and any other families that claim my passing fancy. At the risk of stating the obvious, we humans don’t live very long--take it from me, an expert in an…

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