If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton you may as well make it dance – George Bernard Shaw
It’s a motto that I try to go by these days. Genealogy can be a wonderful and interesting journey, once you starting digging it can be very addictive. As a result of undertaking this journey you will be opening a can of worms or finding skeletons in the cupboard. You might find things about your ancestors that you may not want to hear. Personally I don’t think a tree is complete without a skeleton rattling somewhere. What odds is it if you do find one? How can you be sure that there even any skeletons to find? You can’t undo what’s already happened. I don’t make any bones (excuse the pun) about what I have on my tree and I’m quite comfortable talking about it which at the moment is mostly though this blog.
There was an air of mystery surrounding my great-great uncle Robert Patrick Shannon who died on 28th July 1947 at the age of 28. His sister, my great-grandmother, never talked about him and her children were always lead to believe that their uncle died of cancer or had a heart attack. One day my grandfather came to me and said that his brother, my great-uncle, had found something to suggest that there was more to their uncle’s death than they first thought. He asked me would I look into it and I agreed. I was able to find the death certificate for Robert Shannon last year and the cause of death was stated as “sedormid poisoning self-administered when of temporarily unsound mind”. Sedormid is a sedative. Robert Shannon had killed himself.
Unfortunately I was unable to reveal my findings to my grandfather as he had passed away four months previously. I feel sad knowing that he has gone to the grave without knowing the truth about his uncle. I’m not sure how he would have taken it but I think he would have been glad of the clarity. Tom was a quiet man, he was always happy to listen to what you had to say but he wasn’t going to come to you and talk about his feelings. I confess I do share a similar trait. I don’t believe that Robert Shannon was of unsound mind. I believe that he was more than likely to have been a troubled young man who either couldn’t talk about his feelings or he didn’t know who to turn to.
Yes there are those who might not be comfortable with finding a skeleton - and I have nothing against that – but the longer you bury the skeleton, the worse it will get further down the line when you do find out. I have seen one too many cases in which family members just did not talk about any form of what they considered to be scandalous. We should not let the actions of our ancestors reflect on ourselves. It should not have an impact on who we are. I don’t think there is ever a set time when you can be ready for the journey that is genealogy, if you’re not ready now then when will you ever be? Was I ready at 16 to go unearthing skeletons? Maybe I was, but then again maybe I wasn’t. I’m still glad that that I did.
