Are there parts of your family history that you've needed to keep secret? How has that affected your life?
Created: 07/22/13
Replies: 5
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
Join Date: 06/16/11
Posts: 410
Thankfully, there are no secrets that I have had to keep. That is not to say that some interesting things that none of my generation were aware of haven't cropped up when genealogy addicted relatives have dug into some of our family history generations back. Of course now we all just find them very interesting as they have no particular affect on our lives.
Join Date: 04/12/12
Posts: 294
I haven't had to keep any secrets but there are secrets that my grandfather kept about his father that I wish I now I knew. He would never talk about his father and it might be that he didn't know much. His mother married and moved to a different town with her husband, had my grandfather, and then at some point moved back home. She took back her maiden name and changed my grandfather's name to her father's name. When my grandmother told me some vague information about this it was very intriguing. When I asked my dad he didn't know anything or wouldn't talk about it. My mom said that when my dad's grandmother died (she committed suicide) that they found papers that said she had been paying off my grandfather's father for years. Now, wouldn't you want to know the secret of what happened? There is no one anymore alive that would know.
Join Date: 04/10/13
Posts: 54
Join Date: 12/03/11
Posts: 280
When I was younger, I kept a lot of things about my family history secret, but as I have gotten older, I have found it helpful to share with close friends. Many times, doing this, one finds out that others are, or have been, in the same situation. That helps me feel less alone and less ashamed.
Join Date: 10/20/10
Posts: 23
My mom was bipolar and not diagnosed until much lter in her life. This made life hell in the family. Not until she was diagnosed and taking medication did things calm down but much of the resentments on the children were already in.
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