New Years Resolution

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings,

I see this New Years Resolution is doing the rounds again. Been around for a number of years, and quoted on a number of genealogical sites.

1 I resolve to see to it that all of my children will have the same given names that my ancestors and cousins have used for six generations in a row.

2. My age is no one's business but my own. I hereby resolve to never list the same age or birth year on any document.

3 I resolve to have each of my children baptized in a different church or in a different parish. Every third child will not be baptized at all or will be baptized by an itinerant missionary who keeps no records.

4. If a child should die, I will give the next child born the same name. Girls will all be named Mary.

5. I resolve that if my beloved wife Mary-Catherine should die, I will marry another Mary-Catherine. I will see that she write her name Mary, Mary-Catherine, Catherine, and Catherine-Mary in different documents.

6. I will name all the children of my second marriage with the same names as the children of my first marriage. Each John will thus have several brothers and half-brothers as well as cousins and other relatives, plus me, all named John, all with the same surname.

7. I will make every attempt to reside in counties and towns where no vital records are maintained or where the courthouse burns down every few years.

8. If a census enumerator comes to my door, I'll loan him my pen, which has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink. I will also find that I can only guess at my children’s ages —and even their names.

9. I will not take pictures of the family. If I do, I will not identify the people in the photos.

10. I resolve that when I die, my tombstone will be made of soft stone with shallow engraving so that it is guaranteed to weather away as quickly as possible.

Happy hunting for 2012. - Alan SHARP.

[paddyscar]

Hi Alan:

Thanks for posting, and we probably could think of a few more to add to the list.

Frances

[Alan SHARP]

For starters, how about the mariage of cousins, in the same or neighbouring villages. Plus mariages within the 'greater family' making Patronmyc naming more of a hindrance than a blessing. All those Williams and Johns.

Alan SHARP.