I do feel that a family tree is about people. It's about real people,
people with likes and dislikes, passions and phobias, hates and loves.
It's about colour on an otherwise grey and lifeless list of names.
It is a family joke that I will not throw anything away, that I save
and store anything and everything. It is a well known fact that the
best and quickest way to get to know a person is to sort through their
rubbish (for our American cousins, trash). One man's trash is another's
social history. We can learn so much about a person from such mundane
things like utility bills. Did they keep their house warm, were they
friendly and talkative, from telephone bills, and so on.
I'm not suggesting that we should keep everything, but what I am
suggesting is that we keep a representive selection, remembering that
as we get older our attitudes and outlooks change, so one particular
type of, say bill, will mirror this change as the years pass.
Oficial documents, as birth, marriage & death certificates can
always be obtained, but its the personal bits of 'rubbish' that really
describe the person, they are unique and once destroyed can never be
replaced. Remember, if you are interested in the life of your
great-grandparents, then your great-grandchildren will be as just
interested in yours.
The pages in this section document all the documents and artifacts that
I have for each person. If there is anything that you want to see, you
are more than welcome to come to my house. If it a simple paper
document perhaps I can scan it in and email it to you. Please use our 'Contact Page' .
If any one of you has a collection of memorabilia, and would like to
share it with the rest of the family, if you have got your own web
site, I could link to it, or I could put your lists on my site. Please 'Contact' me.
John Olsen
