It's weird when I'm the only one who knows someone lived.

[dragonfly]

Sometimes there are ancestors of mine who don't show up in the census or other records. My great-great grandmother had only one child, who had only one child who had only one child. I am one of the few people who know her name or story. She didn't live long and doesn't show up in the census, for whatever reason. No burial record, no marriage license. I have the odd feeling like if it wasn't for me no one would ever know she lived.

Agnes Eger 1838-1860, died in childbirth with her first child.

Comments

[dantesspirit]

That's rather sad in a way. But as long as *someone* remembers, she'll never disappear.

[dragonfly]

I was thinking today, as I handed over yet another bunch of personal information to Google (for a smart phone calendar app), that in the future everyone's digital lives will have been recorded and archived and someone simply not existing in the record will be much less likely. Maybe if they died REALLY young, but Agnes, at age 22, would have already had a zillion Facebook, Twitter, and online gaming personas if she lived today.

[dantesspirit]

Yup. Sad isn't it? }:P