An Article I Wrote That Got Published on One of my Favorite Websites

I submitted an article I wrote to one of my favorite blog sites and they published it. It offers monthly prizes, but you have to give them the copyrights, so I couldn't post it here and then over there. I hope ATS doesn't have a problem with me mentioning it here, I did want to post it in the survival forum, but wouldn't be able to submit it for the contest over there if I did that. Here is the opening paragraph and a link to the article. Have a look see and tell me if it seems worthy of their prizes.

It is the Best of Times and the Worst of Times to Research Your Family History, by Michigan Swamp Buck . . . Gone are the days of the nuclear family. With high divorce rates, remarriages, single parents, and the legalization of same sex marriages, the family unit as it was once known is becoming a rare thing in the 21st century. Although these changes have brought more choices and variation in family structure, there have been losses from abandoning the traditional family unit. One loss is the traditional family value of knowing your family’s history and lineage. Knowing who you have descended from and the history surrounding their lives provides a foundation of pride and strength that many families have lost touch with in our current era. Knowing this personal family history not only gives strength to the individual but brings to life the unique history we all share in the United States. Losing this personal connection to the past can leave us weakened and indifferent to the reality of history and open to revisionists who seek to change it to suit their agendas. In essence, the survival of our family history helps to ensure our survival as individuals as well as the survival of our western lifestyle.

Survival Blog Article

I enjoyed your article, it was well written and well thought out. I'm your age and don't think of my self as old!1 lol!! My story is similar with yours.

a reply to: WUNK22

Perhaps I should have done some research on my assumption that many families were like mine before I wrote that article. Thanks for your input, it's good to know that our families are similar in that way. It sure seems obvious to me that many families in the U.S.A. have lost touch with their personal histories.

The Survival Blog usually has articles about survival scenarios, bug-out bags, weapons, etc., I thought that my article was a refreshing take on survival and might have a chance at one of the prizes.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Good for you!
You may have bagged a 12 pointer there.

S&F

a reply to: Wildmanimal

Thanks!

I hope mentioning it here doesn't disqualify me from the contest. I don't see how that could be true though. Just getting some feed back from here after the fact.

Grats to you! I think you brought up a very good point. As time goes on it's harder and harder for families to pinpoint their heritage history due to deaths and more in the family of those who knew the history. A good tip to help preserve that may be going further than a family tree, but on to preserving a history timeline through even visiting the country/countries of origin to find more.

It's a pretty good article, I hope you win one of those prizes.

I hope the drawing isn't in twenty five years.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I really enjoyed the article! I just turned 31, and have had a conversation about family history with my wife and parents. I feel like this article just really hits the nail on the head about the importance of knowing where you came from and how far the bloodline has either succeeded, or failed.

My dad had 13 siblings, but twelve were sisters, so the name is lost to the ones they married. I produced five myself because to be honest, I was worried there would not be enough to carry our name and blood on to future generations. Well I have four boys, so that is four heirs I know will continue our lineage. I am going to have my oldest son read your article too because I feel it is written so well that it really gets across the point on the importance of family history and leaving a legacy for ones heirs.

Can you imagine if a burger flipping teen at McDonalds knew that their family line centuries back were noble merchants, tradesmen, or crafters of some kind? It could kind of give some a motivation to say "hey what happened?? We went from being some of the most known fur traders in the northern continent, to working hourly wage jobs and barely getting by??"

I think if more people went far back enough, they could discover where the family went from successful independent entrepreneurs, to wage earning servants. I believe many would also find that the tide turned somewhere along the intersection of Alcoholism Ave. and Drug Abuse Drive . Great read, I feel it is certainly worthy of any of the top 3 prizes, and hope that the judges or voters will also appreciate the validity to your article and its significance today.

S&F!

There comes a time when you realize that you are the Elders of your family. It's sobering. When did that happen? There isn't an older generation to look to. We. Are. It. My older brother has become the patriarch, but it doesn't seem the same as when we were younger. We had "family reunions" and were fairly tight-knit back in the day (haha - talking like an old woman now). Every year we'd get together for a long weekend. Cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents - a huge group of people related not only by blood, but also by shared experiences. One by one we lost our grandparents and parents, and now we don't make the effort. Sure, we are all on Facebook, but years can go by and we don't see each other. It's totally our fault. The only time we get together are weddings and funerals - and sometimes not even those.

My parents were Depression Children, and taught my brothers and I how to recycle/reuse/care for things. Our kids - well, we didn't pass those skills down very well. Again, totally our fault. We've lost something valuable because we haven't been good stewards of our legacy. I wish that I had listened better. So many stories lost.

I think social media is good for some connections, but it has ruined real relationships. Makes you wonder if we'll ever get back to how families should be.

a reply to: dreamingawake

My father's side of the family comes from the thumb area of Michigan. The last time I went up there a few years back, I went to all the cemeteries where I knew I had relatives and took pictures of the grave stones. I stayed at a local motel that had a bar, and being that the family was pretty well known there I heard a few stories I never knew from the locals. I should have wrote them down, but it was a busy weekend for me.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I really enjoyed the article! I just turned 31, and have had a conversation about family history with my wife and parents. I feel like this article just really hits the nail on the head about the importance of knowing where you came from and how far the bloodline has either succeeded, or failed.

My dad had 13 siblings, but twelve were sisters, so the name is lost to the ones they married. I produced five myself because to be honest, I was worried there would not be enough to carry our name and blood on to future generations. Well I have four boys, so that is four heirs I know will continue our lineage. I am going to have my oldest son read your article too because I feel it is written so well that it really gets across the point on the importance of family history and leaving a legacy for ones heirs.

Can you imagine if a burger flipping teen at McDonalds knew that their family line centuries back were noble merchants, tradesmen, or crafters of some kind? It could kind of give some a motivation to say "hey what happened?? We went from being some of the most known fur traders in the northern continent, to working hourly wage jobs and barely getting by??"

I think if more people went far back enough, they could discover where the family went from successful independent entrepreneurs, to wage earning servants. I believe many would also find that the tide turned somewhere along the intersection of Alcoholism Ave. and Drug Abuse Drive . Great read, I feel it is certainly worthy of any of the top 3 prizes, and hope that the judges or voters will also appreciate the validity to your article and its significance today.

When I started the family tree on ancestry.com, the female lines were often the hardest to trace back due to taking the husband's last name.

You make a good point about how the current generations can be uninspired and low achieving compared to their ancestors just a few generations back due to a lack of a family legacy. That was implied in the article, but you used a good analogy to point that out.

Often human failings come into play, like drinking or gambling, but more often than not, those stories are not shared on the internet genealogy sites, or even at family gatherings. One of my mothers ancestors left home to go west after killing the family's geese (he hated them) and selling the cows at market. He never told them where he went after taking the money and making a run for it. He actually made a name for himself in the Colorado territory and is part of that history now. Eventually the family made contact and many headed west after he struck out first.

originally posted by: Lolliek
S&F!

There comes a time when you realize that you are the Elders of your family. It's sobering. When did that happen? There isn't an older generation to look to. We. Are. It. My older brother has become the patriarch, but it doesn't seem the same as when we were younger. We had "family reunions" and were fairly tight-knit back in the day (haha - talking like an old woman now). Every year we'd get together for a long weekend. Cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents - a huge group of people related not only by blood, but also by shared experiences. One by one we lost our grandparents and parents, and now we don't make the effort. Sure, we are all on Facebook, but years can go by and we don't see each other. It's totally our fault. The only time we get together are weddings and funerals - and sometimes not even those.

My parents were Depression Children, and taught my brothers and I how to recycle/reuse/care for things. Our kids - well, we didn't pass those skills down very well. Again, totally our fault. We've lost something valuable because we haven't been good stewards of our legacy. I wish that I had listened better. So many stories lost.

I think social media is good for some connections, but it has ruined real relationships. Makes you wonder if we'll ever get back to how families should be.

In my case I became more serious about the family when I began the family tree. However, finding both family collections of photographs and documents ramped it up for me. I would have never thought of myself as the elder or patriarch of the family, in fact, my research has shown that both sides of the family were more of a matriarch for the last few generations. I'd call myself the family archivist at this point.

I'd certainly agree that social media like Facebook haven't helped, but I imagine there are genealogical groups there that could help, if anyone was interested.

One thing my father did, besides being a photographic nut, was to be an audio file. Back in the late 60s he recorded the family stories as told by my great aunt during a trip to Colorado. Those stories became very important in my research. I feel blessed by his insight at that time and by my own interest in electronics and recording. If I didn't have a couple of reel-to-reel tape machines and access to his collection of tapes, those stories would be gone now too.

Thought that I would mention that my article will go into the back pages after today. Each day they add new articles, so in order to read it after a while, you'll need to go back to the day it was first published.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Very well written and congratulations. Nice way to tie the present with the past and encourage research.

During my research I became very attached to some people. Their life was my life as I grew to actually care about them.

It eventually brought me to discover my father really wasn't my father and it took a couple years or so to discover who he was. Other family is not interested and question why I pursue to find my father. I question why they don't understand.

The matriarch now, if I don't hand it down, no one will ever know

Hope your article makes an impact and inspires others to take the plunge before all is lost.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

That was a pretty good article. Nice job.

Well, they posted the results. No prizes, not even in the honorable mentions. Better luck next time I suppose.