I’ve been asked to speak at the annual Ufkes reunion in Carthage, Illinois, early in July.
It can be tempting to simply ramble off lists of dead relatives at presentations like this and convert oneself into a walking talking four-generation genealogy.
That’s a temptation best avoid.
Genealogies consisting only of vital statistics and lists of relatives do not make the most scintillating reading. They also don’t make the most scintillating presentation. It is a surefire way to bore the presenter and the people who are sitting and wondering how long it will be before the presentation is over.
So I’m going to do something different. One year I showed translations of letters our immigrant ancestor had written to relatives in Nebraska in the 1880s and talked about some of the details mentioned in the letters. Another year I talked about the “old men’s draft card registrations” for family members who were alive at that time and of the right age.
I’m not certain what I’m going to present this year, but we’ll have an update after it is over.
But there will not be lists of name after name.
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