Ancestral Chains (DNA Part IV of VIII) Parr Bloodline

Book excerpt: Ancestry is a dual aspect entity, both private and public. It is private because it is personal. It is public because the stories of the ancestors need to be told. This work deals with both these aspects, while recording the facts for the family researcher and putting across the stories and lives that shaped the ancestors and how they saw and understood the world around them. One should never be ashamed of one's ancestors, for we have no more a right to judge them than they have to judge us. Yes, they really do live among us and they really do affect us from beyond the grave, not only with the material goods they leave us, but also with the karma that is passed down to us. It is our job, the living, to deal with this karma, to dig out the hidden aspects of our ancestors' lives that society and culture would not allow them to express. Seen through her eyes, Volume IV is the life & ancestry, the somewhat sad story, of that 19th-century matriarch of the Parr family, dear Florence -bless her tender heart.