The Genealogy Time Machine

It would be neat to have the use of H.G. Wells' Time Machine. I would program the devise to transport me back to specific places. I would not use it to visit historical events or meet famous people though - at least not at first.
Instead I would start with my father. I'd go back to that Indiana farm house in 1912 when he was born, and I'd watch him grow up. I know very little about his childhood, nothing of his growing up (with four siblings), or how his family interacted. I use to visit the farm when grandma lived there in the 1940's, but I know almost nothng about those earlier years. I don't even know what my grandfather looked like - he died six months before I was born, and no photos ever came my way.

After that, I'd do the same with my mom's family. Then I'd work my way back, generation upon generation - to the beginning of time.

I would only be an observer, and for that reason, I would like to have a time machine that is a little less obtrusive than the gyroscopic model depicted above. It would be better to have one that I could slip into my pocket. I could then hover, off to the side, like a ghost, and no one would know I was there. I would not change anything. I'd listen to what they said; I'd see what they looked like and know how they lived; I'd hear of their plans; I'd get a sense of their hopes and fears. I would get to know them in a way that we can never know our ancestors.

So goes the genealogy pipe dream. In lieu of a time machine I must rely on other means to get acquainted with my dead relatives. The images of my forbearers grow dimmer with each passing generation. Usually only a vestige of them remain, a few letters, but most could not write and paper doesn't last. Photos are rare before the mid-1800's.

I, as the genealogist ,must play the detective by visiting the National Archives, sifting through census reports, scanning public land records, corresponding with historical and genealogical societies, looking at family bibles, perusing old letters, reading biographies, and surfing the Internet.

Then I will, hopefully, assemble those disparate pieces into meaningful and interesting stories. Like a forensic anthropologist, I will start with a skeleton and selectively add, layer upon layer, modeling clay to eventually reveal the whole person.