I think that there needs to be a nationwide effort to collect the actual stories,, third-hand maybe by now, of our ancestors...maybe through ancesry.com or one of the free ones..genealogy.com.

It is important for us to hear actual stories of actual people, rather than the combined aggregates of a group of people. This is what my great-grandfather had to endure..he was whipped, chased by dogs through the woods, but made his way to OHio..that sort of thing.

Or my great-great grandmother escaped the Russian Revolution by traveling through China and ended up in a sweatshop in Baltimore...

We know so few of our own stories..I did not know the names of 3 of my father's grandparents until this year. Still know nothing about them except T. Garvey worked on the canals..might have had an arranged marriage etc. So many things were not talked about because they were so horrible..and because younger generations did not psychologically wnt to hear..that certainly includes me..I knew it was an endless story of famine and workhouses etc. But we should assemble what we know, use the increasing genealogy tools to find out more..google...piece more of it together and get actual stories of actual people out there recorded. mg