Relative of mine stuck in past

pandora

iluvcats wrote:

On Facebook (and before that, in email) my relative constantly speaks of deceased relatives (but her mom only died within the past 5 years.) She brags about our family's greatness so much, you'd think we were the Kennedy's Sadly, my uncle told me she is crazy.

She keeps calling me her cousin. The only relative in common we have is my Great Grandmother's mom! I drew a family tree and I asked my coworker once if she is my cousin and he said no. She is from "a different generation." I guess she's closer to the top dogs in our family than I am. I actually started hiding my FB posts from her...

thanks for listening.

I understand stuck in the past as far as tracing ancestry
and I love it!

It has more than enriched my life. It's hard to explain the spiritualism involved
in learning about those who came before me of the same flesh and blood.

My personal circumstances lead to not knowing anyone on my fathers side
so this brought even more meaning and helped me to feel connected to those I never
had the privilege to know.

I get her enthusiasm and craziness understand bragging rights too

perhaps if you can ... embrace this and her ...
someday you may understand if you start tracing your family tree...
it is oh so rewarding!

iluvcats

Oh ok that sucks is she all alone that has to be the worst thing to be alone at and advanced age ...

jose, she isn't alone, she has 5 grown children (she could be alone although...)

iluvcats

pandora wrote:

iluvcats wrote:

On Facebook (and before that, in email) my relative constantly speaks of deceased relatives (but her mom only died within the past 5 years.) She brags about our family's greatness so much, you'd think we were the Kennedy's Sadly, my uncle told me she is crazy.

She keeps calling me her cousin. The only relative in common we have is my Great Grandmother's mom! I drew a family tree and I asked my coworker once if she is my cousin and he said no. She is from "a different generation." I guess she's closer to the top dogs in our family than I am. I actually started hiding my FB posts from her...

thanks for listening.

I understand stuck in the past as far as tracing ancestry
and I love it!

It has more than enriched my life. It's hard to explain the spiritualism involved
in learning about those who came before me of the same flesh and blood.

My personal circumstances lead to not knowing anyone on my fathers side
so this brought even more meaning and helped me to feel connected to those I never
had the privilege to know.

I get her enthusiasm and craziness understand bragging rights too

perhaps if you can ... embrace this and her ...
someday you may understand if you start tracing your family tree...
it is oh so rewarding!

thanks for reply but that's not it....

pandora

iluvcats wrote:

pandora wrote:

iluvcats wrote:

On Facebook (and before that, in email) my relative constantly speaks of deceased relatives (but her mom only died within the past 5 years.) She brags about our family's greatness so much, you'd think we were the Kennedy's Sadly, my uncle told me she is crazy.

She keeps calling me her cousin. The only relative in common we have is my Great Grandmother's mom! I drew a family tree and I asked my coworker once if she is my cousin and he said no. She is from "a different generation." I guess she's closer to the top dogs in our family than I am. I actually started hiding my FB posts from her...

thanks for listening.

I understand stuck in the past as far as tracing ancestry
and I love it!

It has more than enriched my life. It's hard to explain the spiritualism involved
in learning about those who came before me of the same flesh and blood.

My personal circumstances lead to not knowing anyone on my fathers side
so this brought even more meaning and helped me to feel connected to those I never
had the privilege to know.

I get her enthusiasm and craziness understand bragging rights too

perhaps if you can ... embrace this and her ...
someday you may understand if you start tracing your family tree...
it is oh so rewarding!

thanks for reply but that's not it....

Oh I think I get...
its the top dogs ... yes?

well we all know they can be full of shit or at least themselves

iluvcats

yes, since she is of a different generation, she is closer to the top dogs

pandora

iluvcats wrote:

yes, since she is of a different generation, she is closer to the top dogs

I see... I traced my tree on my Dads side back to the 1600's
my mothers is much harder to trace ...

but it's all family ... I don't get top dogs really

iluvcats

pandora wrote:

iluvcats wrote:

yes, since she is of a different generation, she is closer to the top dogs

I see... I traced my tree on my Dads side back to the 1600's
my mothers is much harder to trace ...

but it's all family ... I don't get top dogs really

we have two relatives tracing our family tree via the Internet (which I have found to be inaccurate when I tried to do it that way.) correct it is all family and I don't understand the constant name dropping of my distant cousin.

StillHere

iluvcats wrote:

JOEJOEJOE wrote:

Whats the fun of calling someone and asking "what's new?" if you've already read about it on Facebook?

one of my friends i used to work with -- she will not call me back if i call her and leave her a message; but she will write a novel to me on facebook. i truly believe it has replaced adult human contact for her.

i'm on facebook..and i'm STILL always out of the loop
but that's the case in real life too...soooooooo :roll:

pandora

iluvcats wrote:

pandora wrote:

iluvcats wrote:

yes, since she is of a different generation, she is closer to the top dogs

I see... I traced my tree on my Dads side back to the 1600's
my mothers is much harder to trace ...

but it's all family ... I don't get top dogs really

we have two relatives tracing our family tree via the Internet (which I have found to be inaccurate when I tried to do it that way.) correct it is all family and I don't understand the constant name dropping of my distant cousin.

my husbands mother did an in depth tracing of their trees and found them related to
Abe Lincoln ... there's a name to toss around
but you know many many many people are related to him, so the meaning
of such kind of unimportant.

I found out some unhappy things but it gave me new respect
for some of my relatives for what they endured.

And yes one can try to document events but sometimes it remains a guess ...
a stretch, accuracy if not truth itself not found

it is a great hobby though but at this point, for me, requires some travel which is out of reach.

redrock

iluvcats - whilst quite a number of 'x removed', this person is a cousin! Also a very lonely person, it would seem, if her life revolves around FB and the past. Whilst remembering the deceased and embracing one's roots, origins and distant family, to dwell in it so much seems a bit strange.

Maybe your relative who said she was crazy might exaggerate but it's certainly not a healthy outlook on life. Toward the end of her life, my mother was always on about those that had died (and it would seem their deaths the cause of all of her 'woes' - a bit of a 'escape' if you ask me!).

Just try not to let it get to you - let it glide over your head!

We've managed to trace our family back to 1010 (on my Dad's side). Internet helped a bit but not all that much - as you said, a lot of inaccuracies there. It took a cousin and three years of his life, lots of traveling, etc. to piece everything together (and write a book about it too!). A labour of love it was!

iluvcats

redrock wrote:

iluvcats - whilst quite a number of 'x removed', this person is a cousin! Also a very lonely person, it would seem, if her life revolves around FB and the past. Whilst remembering the deceased and embracing one's roots, origins and distant family, to dwell in it so much seems a bit strange.

Maybe your relative who said she was crazy might exaggerate but it's certainly not a healthy outlook on life. Toward the end of her life, my mother was always on about those that had died (and it would seem their deaths the cause of all of her 'woes' - a bit of a 'escape' if you ask me!).

Just try not to let it get to you - let it glide over your head!

We've managed to trace our family back to 1010 (on my Dad's side). Internet helped a bit but not all that much - as you said, a lot of inaccuracies there. It took a cousin and three years of his life, lots of traveling, etc. to piece everything together (and write a book about it too!). A labour of love it was!

thanks for your thoughts

1010? I guess there would be alot of inaccuracies. Doing it by the legwork (traveling) sure sounds a lot better than surfing the internet.