genealogically speaking
I've had people email and ask when I was going to put a Laura Ingalls Wilder genealogy online. Huh? I can't even get the easy pages done, like one person at a time, and you're wondering why I don't hurry up and get all the details out there about all the Ingalls/Wilder family members?

My fault, I'll admit, since there has been a non-working link to a genealogy page since day one.

To tell the truth, I'm not quite sure how to format and present the branches on the "Little House" family tree (which I'm convinced must be a cottonwood, btw). There are some pretty detailed LH genealogies online already, and some of them are mind-boggling to navigate. Do I want a pretty chart? An outline with links? Genealogies linked to "Little House" book titles? Do I want to start at the beginning or start at the end? Still deciding. I'm almost certain, though, that I'll stick to only presenting information about characters and immediate family members who are mentioned, immediately related to, or important to the "Little House" series.

Why? Because I've had descendants of several "Little House" character family members tell me that they didn't want their family histories out there for the world to see. They want to be left alone. And I can respect that. Even Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote a letter to daughter Rose about the skeletons in their family closet, which was why she fictionalized some of her own character histories. Then along we come with our shovels, ready to dig up all the dirt we can find.

There's also the little fact that some of what's out there is just plain wrong. The more names and dates and places you include, the greater the chances for mistakes. I had one person (who has an Ingalls genealogy online) tell me that they really didn't care if all their facts were correct or not. They looked upon their genealogy as bait, and living family members as the big fish who would get in touch and provide them with the correct data. Trouble is, while your mis-information is out there, unsuspecting readers are passing it along as fact.
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:07 AM