Ancestors or Influencers?

 My interest in genealogy has been based mostly on the question "Who influenced those who influenced me?" I suppose it's the psychologist in me. Somehow that became "What is my family (i.e., genetic) history?" In pursuit of that I, along with millions of others, sent in saliva to have my genes codified. We all get emails saying that dozens of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ad infinitum cousins have been found. Well, I have no more than a mild interest in them. Genes are extremely important but not so much in answering the question I started with.

Often it's necessary to learn more. An example is my maternal grandmother, Ann Josephine Cullerton (Graver). Her parents died when she was very young and the Kelly family raised her until she married at 19. Here's the note added to her dewjoy genealogy.

So those two elderly women I knew as distant aunts were far more important in understanding my grandmother than her biological relatives. It's time to contemplate those kinds of connections more.