Last week as I was sitting on my patio I reflected over the time I've spent researching my family history. I am constantly hearing from people about how they descend from Royalty. The king of this and the king of that... and they go on & on about how they've researched so many generations and its only so many more until they get to that Royal link.
A few months ago I received a rather nasty email, In it the person made reference to my "redneck" heritage and how proud I am of it. At first I got very angry and then I found myself hurting, wanting to lash out. But after pondering it, I began to think. So what is wrong with being proud of a redneck heritage?
Not a Jeff Foxworthy redneck, but a real honest hard working southern redneck. Wikipedia defines redneck as .."... referring to the poor rural white Southerner, is probably derived from individuals having a red neck caused by working outdoors in the hot sun. A citation from 1893 provides a definition as "poorer inhabitants of the rural districts...men who work in the field, as a matter of course, generally have their skin burned red by the sun, and especially is this true of the back of their necks."
No we didn't have shopping carts made into grills, or christmas ornaments made from shotgun shells - but most of my family were hard working, honest farmers, who lived paycheck to paycheck. We didn't live in mansions or put on airs, just hard working honest people.
Funny, my husband Mark, he's one of those who descends from that Royalty stuff and last I checked, he's just another ordinary guy. And after meeting a few of those "related to Royals" I think I'll just keep my redneck up bringing. After all, when you get down so many generations, blood is blood - and any Royal stuff in there is about as watered down as my redneck stuff!
Happy Researching!
Karen
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