I am having a dilemma with the Ford family list. We have quite a few families (3 or4 from the cousins) that include step children and step grandchildren, some still young and living at home, some grown with children of their own. These kids although loved like the children born or adopted into our family, are not direct decendents and I think that is the list I am compiling is it not? I asked one of our cousins who is a step parent and she says no, in her opinion they are not direct decendants, nor were they legally adopted, therefore should not be on the list. This does not mean in any way that they are not part of our family. What are your thoughts. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
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When I saw Mimi's message to you on Facebook I thought about the same thing. We have so many cousins that have effectively married into the family it's hard to figure out how to handle them in the family tree.
In my mind the work you're doing serves two purposes: 1) It gives us an up-to-date Ford family genealogy 2)It provides us with a complete family list.
Now when I think about family members like Jannette and Rebecca I feel like they're as much a cousin as anybody, but at the same time I realize they aren't direct descendants.
So, I'm wondering if it's possible to include both groups of people and demarcate descendants from non descendants.
It might be more work - so you can tell me to stuff it :-), but it'd be awesome to see a list of all the people we call family.
What do you think?
Our grandmother was also adopted when you think about it.