In English, "The Enlightenment", in French "Le Siècle des Lumières"; in Spanish "La Ilustración"; in German "Aufklärung"... This century is, no doubt, one of the most interesting centuries in History. This century changed the face and the spirit of the entire known world at that time. This is my personal vision about the century in which the man opened his eyes and developed a new structure of thought. In this century were invented the flights in baloon, the piano, the steam engine, the electric battery... and the sandwich!...
(Click here or in the image to go to The Enlightenment website)
Anne Morddel is an american genealogist living in Paris, and the author of French Genealogy Blog, a wonderful work with abundant information, rich and profoundly elaborated, for the satisfaction of all those who are interested in genealogy. It's the result of years of investigation and a deep knowledge about this field. What's different about this blog? She has her own media production: everything is original, she travels, visiting interesting places, and giving her readers or followers a first-hand source of information. Anne was talking with us, pouring on this blog enlightening comments, her particular point of view about genealogy in general, and other interesting topics.
The Republican Calendar. An attempt of the revolutionaries to introduce France into the parameters of a rational, efficient world. A "good bye" to the old rules of the Ancien Régime and the Pope. A conversion of an old world of quotidian complex operations to another easier world, more simple and more efficient. A calendar not impossed by the authority, but by the same citizens. Nevertheless, nobody felt comfortable with it, it was complicated for the international relations, and, finally, it was abolished. It was used later back again in France in 1848 and 1871, for a very short time. Benito Mussolini adopted it in 1922, during his "fascist age". Actually, it still has followers, and it's consulted by genealogists and historians. Take a look on the Republican Calendar; you'll also find a conversion to our conventional dates and today's date. Now, at this year 218 of the Republican Age.
Statistics told me that this post was one of the most visited in this blog. Then, I improved the post about conservation of old documents with this new version, which is far more complete than the former one. All possible topics were reached: conservation of papers, photographs, different kind of papers and their history, all kind of photographs in the past, and a final page with a review of bacteria, insects, moistures and every "illness" the old documents might have. And, at the end, a reflexion, known by everybody but interesting to get in mind: prevention is better than cure.
They might be our ancestors. But they didn't have a name or a family. They are the foundlings, the enfant trouvés. The heirs of the oblivion. A story of love and missed encounters. The missed encounter of a society with itself, after giving its back to the reality so many times. They are that "other side" of the genealogy about coats of arms and noble ancestors. They are a real story about human beings, left at a side of the life. We, the genealogical searchers, must not forget them. They are the heirs of the oblivion, but they shouldn't be heirs of our oblivion.
The Basques have one of the most ancient cult of the ancestors. For them, this kind of worship was the reason to be congregated in families, clans, strongly attached to their land, and united by a common origin. And this ancestor-cult also reinforced their idea of community and nationalism. Perhaps, this familiar cult was even one of the origins of the genealogy.
To digitize old documents is a way to preserve them, to freeze the passage of time. And to avoid the loss of important archives, either by erosion, or any damage or accident. Although this work is not a science, some previous knowledge and to know some tricks it's necessary to can handle it with efficiency.
"My grandfather's arrival to the country is not recorded because he traveled as a stowaway in a ship", is one of the most common myths in family stories, and simultaneously, one of the most false asseverations. Based in the lack of familiar information, or in the emotive or romantic what is to picture the story in this way, the myth is repeated by generations, and many times is far from the reality. What is inconsistent about the "stowaway myth"?
In the former post we have seen that the genealogy fraud was unceasingly repeated along all the History. Today is still between us. Last name's coat of arms are constantly offered in the web, even selling copyrights on them, what is to say like being pretty close to the illegal, as well as "Family X Books", which resembles more a phone's directory than another thing. And a lot of similar stuff is offered to the people every day.
False names, doubtful information, non verified kinships: stay alert. Forgers are on the look out. And much more than we think: 55% of the genealogies published in Internet have serious mistakes, according with an statistic of the Genealogy Fraud Website. Surnames, dates, civil data information, are published without any control. Do we have to believe that all what we read in Internet is true, only because it was published on the web? The incorrect data are not recent; perhaps they remain dragged on there since a long time ago. But every day new falsifications are contributed to the social network. It's recommendable to be aware.
They will. Our children. And the grandchildren of our children...and who knows. Those kids who actually are going to the elementary school, or maybe those who still can't speak, or those who are not still born.
(Or How to Play the Prisoner's Dilemma)That the genealogy is actually in fashion, there's no doubt. But what is really interesting about this fashion, is that, from the beginning of its revival as a popular hobby, it was manifested as a remarkable example, an authentic model of universal cooperation. Cooperation is one of the most important engines of the evolution. Why? For a simple reason: everybody wins. To enlighten this matter we can appeal to a known theoretical problem: The Prisoner's Dilemma. Originally framed in 1950 by Merrill Flood and Melvin Drescher, years later William Tucker formalized the game with prison sentence payoffs. In the generalized form, is a card's game with a banker and two players, with only two cards each: "cooperate" and "defect". Each player puts one card face-down in front of the banker. At the end of the turn, the banker turns over both cards and give them the payments according to these rules: 1) If both players cooperate, they will be rewarded with $ 300.- each. 2) If one player defects and the other one cooperates, the first one is rewarded with $ 500.- and the one who cooperated receives the sucker's payoff of a $ 100.- punishment. 3) If both players defect, they receive the punishment of $ 10.- each for mutual defection, which is not a benefit for anybody. Then, the question is: how would you play? If you evaluate that your opponent plays "cooperate", your best option is "defect", of course (you will gain $ 500.-). But if you think that the other player plays "defect", your best option is not "cooperate", (you may loose $ 100.-) but "defect", indeed. As you see, always the best option is "defect". No doubt. Then, both players evaluate both possible outcomes, and they play "defect" each. And they loose $ 10.- each. Magically, the best option was transformed in the worst one for everybody. In the next hand, you know that your opponet already played "defect", and you cannot run the risk of being punished with $ 100.- if you cooperate. In the case that you had played "cooperate" in the former hand, then, you'll play "defect" now by retaliation. As the other player thinks in the same way, because he won a good prize, or he cannot run the risk either, the same outcome than before is repeatedly played back again. Only if both players understand that the best option is "cooperate" for both of them, and they initially play that way, they will gain $ 300.- dollars always in every turn. This dilemma was applied to all the human interaction and to all the living beings in general. In biology, ethology, politics, economy, sociology, sports, etc. And to all the relations between biologic structures. And, as we are biologic structures, we unconsciously follow this game. Take a look at the world in which we live, and tell me if it's not this way. An experiment based in this dilemma (Tversky, Amos, at the MIT, 2004), showed, as an evidence, that as too much, only the 40% of the players choice the mutual cooperation. You can make a mind game trying to apply the dilemma to whatever you want: it always matches in every interaction in the real life.
It's obvious that genealogy, with its aspect of international cooperation, is a step forward in human evolution. It doesn't mean that we don't have to pay for what is valuated in money, of course. But this wonderful genealogist's world should be considered with more attention by all the social institutions. It evolved faster than others, and with firm steps. Just, exactly, because of its characteristical smart universal cooperation.
Any observation, inevitably tends to fragmentation. For example, when we observe a moment in the time of our ancestors, we separate it from everything else. We separate and focus it to look at it well. All our education is based in separating the matters, without relating them.
