How much do you know of your family tree? I’m not sure how big genealogy is in Singapore, but I guess most of our knowledge of our family lineage and ancestry would come from anecdotes told during family gatherings. Do you keep a copy of your family tree?

In one of her pet projects to study the history of her family, Jaime was fortunate to stumble upon a copy of her father’s genealogy:

Last year, I met an elderly man at the clan association (I was there for another research purpose) who turned out to be from the same village as my paternal grandfather. He had attended my grandfather’s funeral in 1977. He was even able to tell me the name of my granduncle, which I didn’t know, and the exact address of my grandfather’s family in China. A few months later, I had in my hands a copy of the family’s genealogy which the gentleman brought back from his recent trip to the village. He happened to meet with my cousin, who included a letter to the family, who then gave him a copy of the genealogy.

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Whatever the sentiments, the genealogy book triggered a number of stories from my extended family, although a lot of them are vague on details. One interesting one was that my great great grandfather was originally of another surname. He was a lawyer in dynastic China but had been forced to flee (from where?) as a result of a court case. He subsequently took refuge in Swatow and took on the surname of his relative (an auntie it seems) which we have since inhereited. What sort of lawyer was he? Where was he from? Why did he have to run away? What sort of court case was that? No one knows the details.

Read Jaime’s post here. Do you or your family keep a family tree? How far back does it go? What stories are there hidden in the branches of your family’s genealogy? Would you care to share them here?