The Future of My Tree

 

    Why do I do this. I’ve constructed a family tree with going as far back as the early 1800s through 16 branches. I’ve learned the history of my ancestors. Their names, places, occupations, and their stories have given me a better understanding of who I am and what they had to endure to insure their legacy would not go unappreciated. I’ve communicated with other people researching their ancestors and felt joy when they share their successes. I‘ve also felt their pain and disappointment when a particular lead did not pan out. I’ve met cousins that I did not know existed and I’ve become acquainted or reacquainted with those who I had in my tree but have never met or spoken to. 

     This genealogy hobby takes a lot of work. You need to check your facts and sources before adding someone to a tree. Without those, somebody can accuse you of just making things up. My grandfather (Louis Levine) dictated a family tree to us which included his father and his father’s five siblings. He also gave us his grandfather’s name and his mother’s maiden name. Louis was very astute and sharp of mind to his dying day. I have no reason to mistrust his information but he provided absolutely no documents. It doesn’t surprise me that when I do uncover documents to support his story, he was usually right. The actual adding people to the tree after verifying the information is tedious and time consuming. Websites like Ancestry and My Heritage make it a little bit easier but one still has to follow the protocol and do it right.

     I plan on doing this for the rest of my life. I probably have twenty more good years to plod through this stuff but what happens after that? Many people are interested in the history of their family. They like the stories and learning about the connections to other people but don’t have the time or inclination to dedicate to the project. I shall soon actively start looking to recruit someone to keep my tree alive. It might be a direct descendant or a niece or a nephew. I could be a grandchild of one of my cousins. I don’t know who will step forward to help me and keep my legacy going but I’m sure that person is out there now or in the future.

     I have close to 1700 people in the Levine-Carlton family tree. I have been the beneficiary of several people who had created family trees and shared them with me. I got the Levine side which included my great grandmother, Tiba Weiner and her parents and brothers from my Uncle Murray. I received the Pasternak family tree from my cousin, Ron Pasternak which goes back further in my tree than any other branch. The Pasternak branch is from my maternal grandmother. My paternal grandmother’s Kaganovitch branch was sent to me by my cousin, Judy Baston. Dan Kastrul, a cousin on my maternal grandfather’s Boxinbaum side found us via DNA matching and he and I have become genealogy buddies. 

     Most of Arlene’s ancestry has been researched by me but her mother did give us a nice overview of both her mother and father’s family. Arlene did not know much about her father’s side but after she tested her DNA we found a cousin who had done quite a bit of work on the Becker side of her family. Arlene’s paternal grandmother was Rachel Becker. 

     When I first started this project I identified my two children as the primary people of the tree. Working backwards I added their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. I also added all of the other descendants of the people on each level. However I did not expand it to the relatives and descendants of the people who married into our family. For example, my father had three brothers and two sisters. All but one got married and had children. My aunts and uncles were treasured by us when we were youngsters and we had met others in their families but only the person who married into the family got a leaf on the tree. I recently changed my philosophy of who would be added to my tree and have started adding the wonderful people who we’ve met and shared things with and just didn’t qualify to be in my tree because of the initial parameters I had set. I made this change for several reasons. 

1. Why exclude people who are part of the family history just because they don’t share DNA.

2. I would like each of my children, my nieces and nephews, and my cousins and their kids to know where they can go to learn about their ancestry. 

3. When I started writing this blog and sharing stories and connections I realized that there might be some distant cousin’s kid who is interested in his or her heritage and I want to make sure they get the whole story.

4.  I greatly enjoy meeting and communicating with people who are doing the same as me and by expanding my tree I will have the opportunity to expand this community.

     I decided to start this process with the Schwartz family. Arlene’s great grandmother was Rose Rodman nee Kipness. She came to America as a widow with three daughters. Rose met David Schwartz in Philadelphia. David was a widower and had eight children. Rose and David married and Rose’s daughter, Hannah married David’s son Jacob. Hannah and Jacob’s children were the only people who share DNA from both families. That didn’t matter to all of them who met together in a cousin’s club in their little neighborhood of Philadelphia. It was all family to them and it is a feeling that has been passed through their generations. David’s great granddaughter, Cheryl has a tree on Ancestry.com that she has shared with me and I am using that to establish a new branch to that side of the tree. 

     The Benjamin, Ringold, Hyman, and Weisbacher branches will be next along with the Setzman, Snyderman, Becker, and Amores/Sumpters. I have many cousins who have married people with names like Jones, Peters, Williams, Lieberman, and Cohen. The list is almost endless. There are also important people in family member’s lives that need to be added. Guttman, Morrison, and Pesciotta are among them. 

     I hope all of my work doesn’t go for naught. I could break it down into different branches for different people. My grand nephew Henry, might want the Levine Boxinbaum and Becker branches while Arlene’s cousin Izzy might be interested in the Snyder, Schwartz, and Koff sides of the family.

     Who knows.  I have the next two decades to figure this all out. Maybe in about 15 years somebody from a future generation will call me up and say “I’m really interested in this stuff. Can you share your tree with me?” I will smile.