First World Problems...

Wow...that really is a First World Problem! We have the leisure time to examine our pasts and try to learn as much about our ancestors as we can.

And because we live in an information cornucopia, we expect that everything will eventually appear.

But...that isn't the case!

That's my great uncle...and I know nothing about him! Nor will I ever. Whatever information there was describing his life has been lost. It is simply impossible to recreate, which in the grand scheme of things is fine. But I sure would have liked to have known what happened!

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM

Comments

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1 1

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 02:00 PM (Ia/+0)

2 First!

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:01 PM (ayRl+)

3 There has to be plenty of information available

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 02:01 PM (Ia/+0)

4 and I know nothing about him! Nor will I evr.

He's dead, Jim

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 30, 2026 02:02 PM (XLHdq)

5 although I know about my great and great, great grandfather, much beyond that is missing besides births, deaths and a general indication of who they were

Posted by: Kindltot at August 30, 2026 02:03 PM (rbvCR)

6 CBD, does not the cemetery have in its records the layout of the property and who's interred in each spot? Seems like the office of the cemetery would be a logical starting point to begin records research … I hope you discover the information you seek.

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:04 PM (ayRl+)

7 Birth records,possibly photographs.
15yo don't usually jusy drop over, accident maybe?
Guess it could be illness as well

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 02:04 PM (Ia/+0)

8 Having shamed all of my ancestors, I'm too embarrassed to find out much about them.

Posted by: Weasel at August 30, 2026 02:06 PM (TMF5Z)

9 Newspapers? Court records? Hospital records? Synagogue records?

Posted by: Aaron Guzman at August 30, 2026 02:07 PM (P7U08)

10 Blessings on him, CBD.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:08 PM (odBC9)

Posted by: Savage Henry at August 30, 2026 02:08 PM (ZxPkt)

12 My epitaph will be 'I told you I was sick.'

Posted by: Savage Henry at August 30, 2026 02:10 PM (ZxPkt)

13 I am assuming that CBD has already done some legwork on this before making the point that "Whatever information there was describing his life has been lost."

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:11 PM (odBC9)

14 ... but, still, never say never!

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:12 PM (odBC9)

15 Query: That's MARBLE. It's HARD. It does NOT work easily. NOISE would have been made during the defacement. That aside, the creation of the lettering on the stone would have generated 'high' and 'low' areas of cutting. The HIGH areas would have a different color signature under X-ray than the LOW areas. I'm not suggesting you invest in hiring a firm to perform X-rayography on the stone, but it's a method that could (emphasis: COULD) generate an image of the defaced letters.

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:13 PM (ayRl+)

16 My FWP is rebuilt my gas grill but haven't got it fired up yet. Didn't do it as it should though had good sparks and smell gas, no lighting though.

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 02:13 PM (Ia/+0)

17 What does the headstone say?

Posted by: vmom deport deport stab deport at August 30, 2026 02:14 PM (Ydd86)

18 Addendum: I'd STILL start with questions posed to the office staff and cemetery administrator …

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:14 PM (ayRl+)

19 CBD:
I had a similar incident with my son a few months ago. I was talking about the Sharpe TV series, and he said, Why are you wasting the little time we have together about something like that?

And I said, That's your history. You didn't know that?

He had, through me, ancestors who had fought in the British army all the way to Waterloo and then said, There has to be a better life, and emigrated to this country.

And no, he didn't know that. Nobody (me) had told him.

I resolved then--and I recommend this to all of us who are over 29--that my version of a Christmas letter from now on will be a brief biography of every family ancestor I can trace. If I send it to enough relatives, a few might remember for the next generation.

Posted by: Wenda at August 30, 2026 02:15 PM (X4ut0)

20 My parents were cremated. There's no memorial I'm aware of other than a plaque on a wall at the retirement community they died at.

Mom passed during covid. No memorial.

My wife's family (the deceased) are buried at a small, hilltop cemetery in very rural West Virginia. It's actually a beautiful place.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 30, 2026 02:15 PM (2Cry5)

21 It looks like a tree trunk, I think. In the round.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:15 PM (odBC9)

22 Wenda, that's a wonderful idea

Posted by: vmom deport deport stab deport at August 30, 2026 02:16 PM (Ydd86)

23 Interesting. 15 year of age and a gregorian calendar dated 1925. There's a story there somewhere.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 30, 2026 02:18 PM (nlLAo)

24 It's a beautifully carved stone. z"l.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 02:19 PM (RIvkX)

25 My Dad's buried in his family's tomb. It looks normal enough - until: When you examine the list of names going from top to bottom, his Dad's the first in line, then his Mother, then Dad. If you look closely ENOUGH, and examine Birth/Death dates, you'll see the birth dates are the usual. When you examine the dates of DEATH, tho', you'll note all three of them died on April 3d, but years apart. Want more? Okay: All three of them died at 0230 in the morning. When my aunts told me about that, I finally understood why Dad kept asking the date and time for two weeks before he died …

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:20 PM (ayRl+)

26 the legend is inside a heart shape?

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:22 PM (odBC9)

27 Thanks for showing it to us, CBD.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:22 PM (odBC9)

28 Often drowning back in those days. My grandmother lost two brothers that way, at different times.

Posted by: From about That Time at August 30, 2026 02:24 PM (sl73Y)

29 תנצב"ה

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 30, 2026 02:27 PM (aI58f)

30 My problem with my family tree is it becomes a tangled web of French and British Royalty yet I own no castle.

Posted by: Reforger at August 30, 2026 02:27 PM (G1F7l)

31 Part of American culture is letting go of the past, which lets us live more or less in peace with our countrymen.

The alternative is the never-forgotten grievances and blood feuds of The Old Country.

I, personally, have made enough enemies on my own and I'd really rather not have to worry about the enemies my grandfather made, even if they were shiftless Okie bastards.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 30, 2026 02:27 PM (A62KL)

32 29 תנצב"ה
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 30, 2026 02:27 PM (aI58f)

That's in the very last line!

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:28 PM (odBC9)

33 There is a relative in both my family and in Mrs. F's family who were amateur genealogists.

My father's mother was the youngest of her siblings and the only one in her family not born in Austria. Some never emigrated, one died in quarantine on Ellis Island.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 02:29 PM (RIvkX)

34 Age 15. Perhaps one of those diseases we now have vaccines for. Pretty common back then.

Posted by: Tuna at August 30, 2026 02:29 PM (lJ0H4)

35 June 7, wouldn't think drowning, July or August good possibility

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 02:30 PM (Ia/+0)

36 That's in the very last line!

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:28 PM (odBC9)
-

https://tinyurl.com/btf54y2p

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 30, 2026 02:31 PM (aI58f)

37 I'm finding "tree stump tombstone" online.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:32 PM (odBC9)

38 I honestly thought that was a radish or turnip until common sense prevailed.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 30, 2026 02:32 PM (kpS4V)

39 Mrs. F's maternal grandparents were both born in the U.S. but her fraternal grandparents emigrated from Russia, as did her father's father. The whole lot of them secular materialists.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 02:34 PM (RIvkX)

40 36 That's in the very last line!

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:28 PM (odBC9)
-

https://tinyurl.com/btf54y2p

How lovely.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:34 PM (odBC9)

41 My grandmother died the day my mom and her twin sister were born. They were taken in and raised by their father's brother and his wife. I know where they were born and when, but I cannot find my grandmother's grave in any cemetery. She may have been buried on their farm. I'll never know. SW Kansas was sparsely populated then, as it is today.

Posted by: huerfano at August 30, 2026 02:34 PM (2Xqig)

42 CBD, do you know anything about your great great uncle, Shlomo Zvi?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 30, 2026 02:35 PM (aI58f)

43 I can trace my dad's family back to before the Revolutionary War. But of my mom's side I know next to nothing. She died when I was a teen so I never had much of a chance to talk to her as an adult. Kinda sad really.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 30, 2026 02:37 PM (2WIwB)

44 If only he lived today, we could have told you all you wanted to know.

Posted by: Flock Surveillance Corp. at August 30, 2026 02:37 PM (tlCdj)

45 Interesting topic to me. I'm on a downsizing journey.
The largest part of the effort is digital archiving.
If I don't scan it or photograph it, it's probably gone forever.
How do I know someone future generation might want to pore through these records?
I have absolutely nothing handwritten by my grandparents.
I would treasure even a grocery list or a cancelled check.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 30, 2026 02:37 PM (2Ez/1)

46 My problem with my family tree is it becomes a tangled web of French and British Royalty yet I own no castle.
Posted by: Reforger at August 30, 2026 02:27 PM (G1F7l)
====
Have you demanded reparations??

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 02:37 PM (RIvkX)

47 Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:20 PM

Now, that is adhering to tradition.

Posted by: huerfano at August 30, 2026 02:38 PM (2Xqig)

48 I very often feel remorse about not having asked simple, easily answered questions of my elders. But, being young and stupid, those questions just did not occur to me until it was too late.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 30, 2026 02:38 PM (XeU6L)

49 30 My problem with my family tree is it becomes a tangled web of French and British Royalty yet I own no castle.

----------

You may be in the line of succession for several thrones!

Posted by: Can . at August 30, 2026 02:38 PM (tlCdj)

50 Oops. Nic fail.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 30, 2026 02:39 PM (tlCdj)

51 you'll note all three of them died on April 3d, but years apart. Want more? Okay: All three of them died at 0230 in the morning. When my aunts told me about that, I finally understood why Dad kept asking the date and time for two weeks before he died …

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:20 PM (ayRl+)
-

Now we know when the mothership arrives.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 30, 2026 02:40 PM (aI58f)

52 It might be granite.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:40 PM (odBC9)

53 Should my epitaph include a land acknowledgement?

Posted by: I gotta ask at August 30, 2026 02:40 PM (2Ez/1)

54 48 I very often feel remorse about not having asked simple, easily answered questions of my elders. But, being young and stupid, those questions just did not occur to me until it was too late.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 30, 2026 02:38 PM (XeU6L)

I believe they forgive us. They were young once, too.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:41 PM (odBC9)

55 My problem with my family tree is it becomes a tangled web of French and British Royalty yet I own no castle.
Posted by: Reforger at August 30, 2026 02:27 PM (G1F7l)

It stands to reason that you might be the descendant of a second or third son who inherited little to nothing and decided to head to the New World to make his fortune.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 30, 2026 02:42 PM (6ydKt)

56 Both of my parents were cremated. Then tossed into Puget Sound off a boat near Vashon Island.

I don’t know where the grands are. Buried somewhere, I reckon.

I did trace the coal mining side of my Slavic heritage to Cle Elum, WA. They were here before WA became a state. Grandma always insisted she was Yugoslavian. They were Catholics in what is now Croatia. Never been there.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 30, 2026 02:42 PM (6ohhg)

57 53 Should my epitaph include a land acknowledgement?

---------

"I rest here under land stolen from the Cheyenne and I intend to keep it."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 30, 2026 02:43 PM (tlCdj)

58 I have boxes of old photographs. Hundreds of photos. I also have about 6 photo albums. Some from my folks, others are mine.

Nobody's interested in them.

Most of my side of the family's dead. Only a sister, her two girls and my son remain.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 30, 2026 02:43 PM (2Cry5)

59 56 Both of my parents were cremated. Then tossed into Puget Sound off a boat near Vashon Island.

----------

Some of my ancestors were tossed off the boat en route to Ellis Island but they weren't dead.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 30, 2026 02:44 PM (tlCdj)

60 Sheesh. Heavy topic for FWPs.
It makes my problem of toothpaste tubes that don't roll up seem a bit silly.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 30, 2026 02:45 PM (2WIwB)

61
I believe they forgive us. They were young once, too.
Posted by: m
--------

Concur...but it is my interest in family history/lore that goes unsatisfied. There is the point that my elder relatives might well have been pleased to relate family history.

It is unfortunate that very few of us maintain a journal of any sort.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 30, 2026 02:46 PM (XeU6L)

62 I also know that on my mom’s side of the family, her grandfather and father bought the beachfront property on Vashon from the Salish Indians for $50.

My father sold the cabin after mom died. It wasn’t his to sell. But me and my brother and cousins were all in our early 20s and couldn’t afford to buy him out. It was a shitty thing to do.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 30, 2026 02:46 PM (6ohhg)

63 I was a willing listener when I was a kid and got to hear a lot of stories about turn of the century childhood in Europe.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 02:47 PM (RIvkX)

64 My grandfather was the last of 14. His oldest brother was a doughboy in WWI and Grandpa was in WW II. He really didn't know most of his brothers and sisters or parents for that matter.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at August 30, 2026 02:48 PM (6xukV)

65 Go ahead and write your obituary. Yeah, it sounds morbid, but you'll quickly get over that. You're taking the burden off someone else, other than the fact they'll have to update it. Even though it may be ignored, at least you'll have a voice in what is said about you. Be sure to mention your gray box friends at the HQ

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 30, 2026 02:50 PM (2Ez/1)

66 I have boxes of old photographs. Hundreds of photos. I also have about 6 photo albums. Some from my folks, others are mine.

Nobody's interested in them.

Most of my side of the family's dead. Only a sister, her two girls and my son remain.
Posted by: Martini Farmer
-------

I have an acquaintance who operates an auction house. Having, from time-to-time seen old family albums being auctioned, I told him that I was surprised that folks would part with them. His reply, 'No one knows who they are'.

Annotate your photos. I fear that unprinted digital images are doomed to the bit bucket.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 30, 2026 02:50 PM (XeU6L)

67 I worked with a guy who thought he was from two houses of royalty by being related to both King Charles and John F Kennedy. And he was serious.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 30, 2026 02:51 PM (nlLAo)

68 Wikipedia
tropaion

A tropaion (Greek: τρόπαιον, Latin: tropaeum), from which the English word "trophy" is derived, was a monument erected to commemorate a victory over one's foes by the ancient Greeks and later, by the Romans.

Initially, the typical monument was constructed out of a living tree with lateral branches, or it was constructed in the shape of one.

The armour of the defeated foe would be hung upon the monument.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 02:51 PM (odBC9)

69 My father's father did not emigrate until after the Great War. He told me when the Germans came to his town people were happy because they treated everyone better including the Jews

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 30, 2026 02:52 PM (RIvkX)

70 67 I worked with a guy who thought he was from two houses of royalty by being related to both King Charles and John F Kennedy. And he was serious.
----------

What, no Indian princesses in the line?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 30, 2026 02:52 PM (tlCdj)

71 My family history is completely unremarkable. We were, and have been. One day, we won't be.

Posted by: Savage Henry at August 30, 2026 02:54 PM (ZxPkt)

72 Losing a child can devastate someone, so it's understandable for the family to avoid even mentioning the deceased. Your great uncle deserved to be remembered, and someone undertook the expense to place a beautiful stone over his final resting place. May that knowledge be a comfort if your quest for his story goes no further..

Posted by: Joe Kidd at August 30, 2026 02:56 PM (nbLIj)

73 Dad's youngest sister compiled a family history for the French side of the family and gave it to me when I was (?) 14 or 15. Years later, I incorporated her information into my compilation of our family history for BOTH sides of the family (French & Irish). I've since provided printed and electronic copies of that history to my brother, sister, and relevant cousinry. I hope my daughter will pick up the thread once I've gone to the Big Po'Boy Shop In The Sky, but I doubt that'll happen. A) I work on a Mac and she prefers PeeSee and, B) she's not a graphic designer or a typeface freak like Daddy is. There's always the ever-iffy 'word-of-mouth' transmission, tho' …

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:57 PM (ayRl+)

74 There may be old newspaper articles (newspapers dot com) regarding his death. If he was in the us and died in 1925 at 15, he was around for the 1920 census (and maybe the 1910 census). If you know where he was born, there may be birth records. Death certificates may exist.

I've found lots of info on my extended family on this side of the border via old newspaper articles, even finding out how they tried to kill each other back in 1873 (which eventually led to my 3-G Grandparents' divorce...what a bastard 3 G-Grandpa was)...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 02:58 PM (l3cgK)

75 Go ahead and write your obituary. Yeah, it sounds morbid, but you'll quickly get over that. You're taking the burden off someone else, other than the fact they'll have to update it. Even though it may be ignored, at least you'll have a voice in what is said about you. Be sure to mention your gray box friends at the HQ
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 30, 2026 02:50 PM (2Ez/1)

Even more, you will get everything you think is important in there, your family will be shocked and unhappy, and may miss things you would like people to know about you.
Dad did this, and it was a great help

He told me several times, "Don't write I am now with Jesus, boy" and I figure it was due to his sense of appropriateness more than any feeling he had about the possible truth of that statement.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 30, 2026 02:58 PM (rbvCR)

76 Samuel Clemmons wrote his own obituary, after he saw how completely it was bitched up by the news services when the rumor got around that he had died while he was visiting Europe.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 30, 2026 02:59 PM (rbvCR)

77 73
...
There's always the ever-iffy 'word-of-mouth' transmission, tho' …

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:57 PM (ayRl+)

Very true. My mother once told me that she had ancestors from Monaco...turned out their last name was Monico, and they were Mexican Indians...
My Dad told me he never found out what happened to his father's half sister who became a nun. When I got into genealogy, I found out she died in 1928 in Texas from Tuberculosis...which ended up killing her Dad less than a decade later (he was there with her when she was dying).

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:01 PM (l3cgK)

78 Wikipedia
Gravestone

Tree stump headstones in U.S. cemeteries are often associated with fraternal organization Woodmen of the World.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 03:02 PM (odBC9)

79 A) I work on a Mac and she prefers PeeSee and, B) she's not a graphic designer or a typeface freak like Daddy is. There's always the ever-iffy 'word-of-mouth' transmission, tho' …
Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:57 PM (ayRl+)

Word processing and graphics files should open in their respective versions on Mac & PC.

She’d just need to get the software.
If you use Adobe for anything she might balk at that.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 30, 2026 03:03 PM (6ydKt)

80 78 Wikipedia
Gravestone

Tree stump headstones in U.S. cemeteries are often associated with fraternal organization Woodmen of the World.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 03:02 PM (odBC9)

I saw what seemed like some sort of pentagram on a grave...turned out it was some non-diabolical organization. Forget now which one.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:03 PM (l3cgK)

81 This may (or not) be 'important' or 'relevant' … I've put together a rather large-ish book of my 'adventures' dating back to my earliest rememberable childhood moments. It includes every smart (?) and/or idiotic thing I've done (and who I've done 'em with) in my walk thru Physical Existence. They've been distributed to the ones for whom they were intended - but there's been no feedback after 7 years, so who knows? I made the effort - it's up to them now, yes? Yes.

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 03:04 PM (ayRl+)

82 Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 03:04 PM (ayRl+)

My wife wanted me to write about my life adventures on multiple occasions; I told here nobody would believe it.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:05 PM (l3cgK)

83 Dr No Yes

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 03:06 PM (Ia/+0)

84 Little, having been a late addition to the family tree, has few memories of his supporting branches. I compensate with stories of family lore and my own first hand accounts, warts and all. It's been cathartic in some respects, as old conflicts lose their edge when reviewed through decades-old lenses.

The ability to place your family history in the context of historic events is a gift that one should take every opportunity to pass on..

Posted by: Joe Kidd at August 30, 2026 03:07 PM (nbLIj)

85 83 Dr No Yes

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 03:06 PM (Ia/+0)

Good think that was a "yes" answer...otherwise you would have typed, "Dr No No"...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:08 PM (l3cgK)

86 I had to write the entirety of Mom’s obituary over a weekend. Had more time for my father’s and somebody else helped to write half of it.

It was an experience I wasn’t prepared for and wish I’d done better on my mother’s. My Dad’s came out better with the additional time.

I’d say it’s good advice to write out your obit as much as possible in advance.
Ya never know if you’ll lose some memories you’d like to share in the future.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 30, 2026 03:08 PM (6ydKt)

87 I've found old stories of long passed relatives (living ones too) in archives of local newspapers available thru the local library. It helped that newspapers used to print your address along with your name when you got your name or a story posted.

Posted by: Mike, delurking at August 30, 2026 03:09 PM (lyImQ)

88 Of the four grandparent lines, one went back to a 1650s Devon Englishman who's line skeedaddled up into the New Hampshire woods until my guy came down into civilization and married a Boston irishwoman. He died in '41, before my time, and there was little family contact after. Someone in that family wrote a genealogy of the family.
The other three branches are all Boston Irish, coming in in 1840s, 60s and1880s, the last of which I grew up in.

Posted by: From about That Time at August 30, 2026 03:09 PM (sl73Y)

89 @ 79 A) I work on a Mac and she prefers PeeSee and, B) she's not a graphic designer or a typeface freak like Daddy is. There's always the ever-iffy 'word-of-mouth' transmission, tho' … Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 02:57 PM (ayRl+)
Word processing and graphics files should open in their respective versions on Mac & PC. She’d just need to get the software. If you use Adobe for anything she might balk at that.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 30, 2026 03:03 PM (6ydKt)
___________________________________________________

At the time I created 'em, I used all CS6 Adobeware: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator. Since then I've moved to the Affinity suite (free to use on Canva, btw). My OS has also been updated (?) to macOS 10.13.6 'High Sierra' (yeah, it's dated). My font program has 4K± fonts in it, and about 95% of 'em are open and active. It's really more than she's going to want to struggle with 'cos - even tho' it's EASIER than any comparable PeeSee wares - she's tied into the PeeSee environment - and no, I don't understand that either. BUT: That's why I made the .pdf versions of all of it … Prior Planning Prevents – you know the drill …

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 03:10 PM (ayRl+)

90 84 Little, having been a late addition to the family tree, has few memories of his supporting branches. I compensate with stories of family lore and my own first hand accounts, warts and all. It's been cathartic in some respects, as old conflicts lose their edge when reviewed through decades-old lenses.

The ability to place your family history in the context of historic events is a gift that one should take every opportunity to pass on..

Posted by: Joe Kidd at August 30, 2026 03:07 PM (nbLIj)

I tried to get my FIL's grandkids to ask him about his your (grew up in a war-torn land, eating rats and mice if they found them). It's too late now, as he passed away almost 2.5 years ago...
I do have quite a mental collection of my Dad's stories and his stories of his parents. I probably should write them down before they get lost when I pass...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:10 PM (l3cgK)

91 Legacy box for digital record keeping

Posted by: Free tibet at August 30, 2026 03:11 PM (tfJVv)

92 CBD, this is why the ENTIRE history and law are pased down to the son at the father’s knee.

‘And the son passed it to the grandson and so forth….’

Posted by: Eromero at August 30, 2026 03:11 PM (LHPAg)

93 86 I had to write the entirety of Mom’s obituary over a weekend. Had more time for my father’s and somebody else helped to write half of it.

It was an experience I wasn’t prepared for and wish I’d done better on my mother’s. My Dad’s came out better with the additional time.

I’d say it’s good advice to write out your obit as much as possible in advance.
Ya never know if you’ll lose some memories you’d like to share in the future.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 30, 2026 03:08 PM (6ydKt)

I was prohibited from being present during my mother's memorial service. If anyone ever asks me why, I'll be honest: "I would have liked to have been present for it, but Baby brother forbade me from showing up."

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:12 PM (l3cgK)

94 87 It helped that newspapers used to print your address along with your name when you got your name or a story posted.
Posted by: Mike, delurking at August 30, 2026 03:09 PM (lyImQ)

... which is why you had to have friends stay at the house during the receiving of friends and the funeral!

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 03:12 PM (odBC9)

95 not about my FIL's "your" but his "youth". Dunno how that happened, other than my fingers like to betray me.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:12 PM (l3cgK)

96 This may (or not) be 'important' or 'relevant' … I've put together a rather large-ish book of my 'adventures' dating back to my earliest rememberable childhood moments. It includes every smart (?) and/or idiotic thing I've done (and who I've done 'em with) in my walk thru Physical Existence. They've been distributed to the ones for whom they were intended - but there's been no feedback after 7 years, so who knows? I made the effort - it's up to them now, yes? Yes.
Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 03:04 PM (ayRl+)
----
Hopefully the statute of limitations has expired...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 30, 2026 03:12 PM (FZ29D)

97 94 87 It helped that newspapers used to print your address along with your name when you got your name or a story posted.
Posted by: Mike, delurking at August 30, 2026 03:09 PM (lyImQ)

... which is why you had to have friends stay at the house during the receiving of friends and the funeral!
Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 03:12 PM (odBC9)

Armed.

Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 03:13 PM (odBC9)

98 My First World Problem is that my Windows PC crashed overnight for no obvious reason. Before I went to bed I was working on a Word document, and after the crash that doc is corrupt and unrecoverable. Neither Word not Libre Office will open it.

I was able to screw around and recover a bunch of jumbled text from the doc and am in the process of recreating the doc from that and reapplying formatting and cleaning up what I could salvage.

I'm using an ancient (Office 97) version of Word that I've been meaning to replace with Libre Office, in anticipation of eventually moving to Linux for my next PC. This delightful experience has motivated me to hasten that transition.

Fuck Microsoft and their crappy software.

Posted by: a.moron at August 30, 2026 03:13 PM (X5Jzz)

99 Get outta here
Go to Google maps and look at the Great Lakes

Posted by: Skip at August 30, 2026 03:13 PM (Ia/+0)

100 ‘I don’t mean to brag, but……’

Posted by: Eromero at August 30, 2026 03:13 PM (LHPAg)

101
Fuck Microsoft and their crappy software.

Posted by: a.moron at August 30, 2026 03:13 PM (X5Jzz)

Yeah, my monitor is exhibiting horizontal lines in the lower 2.5 inches of the screen...it started with just happening in the taskbar but has grown worse. I need to check the BIOS setting to make sure Windows didn't f-up those settings when it updated at about the time the issue first cropped up...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 30, 2026 03:15 PM (l3cgK)

102 Get outta here
Go to Google maps and look at the Great Lakes
Posted by: Skip

LOL. Lake America baby!

Posted by: Tuna at August 30, 2026 03:16 PM (lJ0H4)

103 I recently had breakfast with a Navy vet who survived the USS Evans sinking in 1969 when cut in half by the HMAS Melbourne. He enthusiastically tells how he fortuitously ended up with a bunk in the stern as the bow section sank almost immediately.
When he concluded I asked him where the story was written down.
He tapped the side of his head.
No, I insisted. Your great grandchildren will never hear it.
I promised him if he would write it, I would edit it.
As we parted he told me he would email a draft.
The last thing I said to him was a question:
Promise?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 30, 2026 03:17 PM (2Ez/1)

104 @ 94 87 It helped that newspapers used to print your address along with your name when you got your name or a story posted.Posted by: Mike, delurking at August 30, 2026 03:09 PM (lyImQ)
... which is why you had to have friends stay at the house during the receiving of friends and the funeral! Posted by: m at August 30, 2026 03:12 PM (odBC9)
______________________________________________

My first 'death experience' came at the age of approx. 10 or so when a friend of the family died. We went to his wake (held in his house, an old 'shotgun'-style place. His coffin was laid on a pair of sawhorses in the front room and there was no light other than what was provided by the little red-glass 'votive' candles. Scared the crap outa me, and I never got over that until my out-of-body experience at the age of 32. Never been afraid of death since then, 'cos we only transition - we don't die.

Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 03:17 PM (ayRl+)

105 My font program has 4K± fonts in it, and about 95% of 'em are open and active. It's really more than she's going to want to struggle with 'cos - even tho' it's EASIER than any comparable PeeSee wares - she's tied into the PeeSee environment - and no, I don't understand that either. BUT: That's why I made the .pdf versions of all of it … Prior Planning Prevents – you know the drill …
Posted by: Dr_No at August 30, 2026 03:10 PM (ayRl+)

PC & Macs use different types of fonts so unless they are all OpenFont (.otf) fonts she’d have to find the same font in TrueType or do a conversion with software. Older Mac PostScript Type 1 fonts aren’t compatible at all with PC.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 30, 2026 03:18 PM (6ydKt)

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