Hello,
My grandmother-n-law asked if I would research her dead husband's family. I agreed. The scope was to be lineal ancestry, starting at my husband's great-grand parents, back as far as it will go, and limited to research online and at my local library only (which is a GEN repository and subscribes to FHL). No travel or record-purchasing. I did buy a subscription to Ancestry.com.
I've been at in now for a long while and have exhausted the lines of evidence within the project scope. For each Family Group, I'm doing a 4 generation flow chart, and 2-3 pages on just the FG, with bullet timeline, summary/stories, and source citations. About half of the 40 FGSs are done (but evidence for all has been gathered and analyzed).
Here's the problem/point: Ever since I revealed to the grandma-in-law and others a couple months ago that one of their family legends did not pan out, the family now doesn't seem very interested in knowing anymore.
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Detail:
They had a legend that they were descended from a prominent military figure with a famous pedigree.
Hours were wasted on searches which failed to yield connections, until I finally found a DNA bank. Known relatives with the surname did not match. Game over. It was a letdown for me, having wasted time. But I didn't tell anyone except my husband because it didn't seem like a huge deal, and I wanted to get on with the project. I continued researching and writing for a few months... Then 2 months ago my father in law emailed to ask about the legend, so I told him. He didn't care too much.
But the next day, my sister-in-law called me in full histrionics, screaming; her kid was crying at "the news". She demanded I explain myself, and explain why the legend wasn't true, why her grandma would lie to her all her life. I tried to explain the evidence trail of her true ancestors, but she didn't have the comprehension to follow along.
She demanded to know where I got my info, and so I told her about censuses, maps, vital records, etc... and the Latter Day Saints Family History Library, where I got a lot of these things. She discounted the information's validity on the basis that she wasn't Mormon, so the Mormon Church could not possibly have information on her family. She then put her daughter on the phone, so I could to explain to a crying, 10 yr old why she wasn't related to The General. It was bizarre. I mailed SIL a long letter detailing the evidence I found. She hasn't spoken to me since.
2 weeks later, grandmother-in-law and aunt-in-law visited and wanted to know about the legend. I told them. They were tactful, but suspicious. They did not want to see any of the evidence (actual records) I'd found, or hear about other findings. They didn't even want to look at any charts or summaries on the other families I'd already made. It hurt because I put in a huge effort and so much time. I doubt any in the family will read the reports now, even though the history is really interesting.
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So, I'm half way done with finishing the writing, citations and flowcharts, but have not done any more work for the last month and 1/2 since grandma and aunt visited and I became hesitant. The evidence is already gathered and analyzed on the FGs within the scope. All that's left is to make the charts, write the summaries, and list the citations (which does take time). My husband is leaning on me now with the ancestry.com subscription; since I haven't used it in 6 weeks he thinks I'm wasting it.
I don't want to have put so much work into a project and not finish it, or have wasted this much time, or have promised something and not deliver it. But now I suspect few people, if any, will want to read it.
Should I finish the writing or give up, or what?
Would would those here do?