<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" xmlns:b="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" xmlns:c="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" xmlns:odc="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:odc" xmlns:oa="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:q="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:rtc="http://microsoft.com/officenet/conferencing" xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:Repl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/repl/" xmlns:mt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/meetings/" xmlns:x2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" xmlns:ppda="http://www.passport.com/NameSpace.xsd" xmlns:ois="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" xmlns:dir="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:dsp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" xmlns:udc="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:sub="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/2002/1/alerts/" xmlns:ec="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#" xmlns:sp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" xmlns:sps="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:udcs="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/soap" xmlns:udcxf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" xmlns:udcp2p="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/parttopart" xmlns:wf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" xmlns:dsss="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig-setup" xmlns:dssi="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig" xmlns:mdssi="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/digital-signature" xmlns:mver="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns:mrels="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships" xmlns:spwp="http://microsoft.com/sharepoint/webpartpages" xmlns:ex12t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" xmlns:ex12m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" xmlns:pptsl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/SlideLibrary/" xmlns:spsl="http://microsoft.com/webservices/SharePointPortalServer/PublishedLinksService" xmlns:Z="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" xmlns:st="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12"> <meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 12"> <link rel=File-List href="cid:filelist.xml@01CB1470.A2C05F00">  <style>  </style>  </head> <body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=WordSection1> Joan wrote:<o:p></o:p> >I have been asked to speak briefly with a radio host on Monday morning and would like to provide a broader opinion than my own on the following topic specifically at what point in going back do these connections lose any real meaning for us or our clients:<o:p></o:p> >>"we want to know how anyone finds connections that old [e.g. to nobility or to royalty -their example is Count Vlad]– we’re so often hearing that some celebrity is related to another or something like that. We’d want to talk about the field of genealogy and how these connections are found. When does family connection lose meaning in your opinion? Just because they shared a relative 400 years ago, does that matter to people you’ve worked with? In your experience can we all find someone famous in our family tree if we look far enough back/ are we all related in some way if you go far enough back?"<o:p></o:p>  >Any brief thoughts on this topic?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Joan, <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The success of US and People magazines attest that the public is enamored with celebrities. No radio host should be surprised, then, that the public thinks it’s cool to be told they are related to nobility, royalty, or people of infamy. But, as we know, there is a vast difference between the public stereotype and the actual practice of genealogy.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> What the media does not ‘get’ is that genealogy is not about finding celebrities. It is history in microcosm. Each of us has our own way of describing what genealogy means to us. Mine would be this:<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Genealogy is about understanding ourselves and the influences that have made us who we are. It’s about understanding the men and women whose genes we carry and whose customs we cherish or purposefully reject. It’s about understanding the world we live in, and how the actions of past men and women shaped the issues we deal with today. It’s about understanding how the problems of those past societies shaped our forebears and how the individual choices they made affected their families and ultimately us. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The Board for Certification of Genealogists’ website also has an ‘explanation’ of genealogy to which you might refer the radio host. It’s at the home page: www.bcgcertification.org.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Elizabeth<o:p></o:p> <div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'> <o:p> </o:p> </div> Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG Tennessee<o:p></o:p> <div> <div>  <o:p></o:p> </div> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </div> </body> </html>