Oops

Despite my self-professed goal to finish the book it...didn't happen. Despite the time it has been taking me to get through it, I do enjoy what I've been reading, for the most part. 


I tried doing work on the older stuff, but then I got a little sidetracked by a name, which led to a Wikipedia search. Of course, once you're on one Wikipedia page, you've got to click a link to another, and I found myself reading about the Windsor house and how it's really just Saxe-Gotha renamed to make it less German. Also, I didn't realize that the current Queen had a sister who died, nor that she had four children. I also didn't know that Victoria was called the "Grandmother of Europe" since her grandchildren seemed to get around. Or that Victoria's grandson was the Kaiser. 


Realizing how far the British royal family traced back also depressed me a little, since I realize how far back I can go in my own family tree. My maternal grandfather's mother's family can go back to the mid 1800's, but other than that, nothing. This may be straying a little, but it's a thought that's been running through my head a lot.


But that's what could have been what helped draw me to this topic - the fact that all of this information about a well known, yet complicated royal tree has so much information readily available, while I can't even say who my great-great-great-great-great etc. grandparents are. I know, other people don't know or don't care to learn, but the past has always been something that interested me. And those people could probably find some information if they delved a little. 


My dad told me that my recent ancestors would have lived in shtetls in Eastern Europe, which would have had records. These of course don't exist anymore. 


I guess I like the reliability of this family tree - though cousins married each other and illegitimate children were aplenty, everything is still laid out nice and easy in a variety of sources. And that's something I'll never have.