Family records

The difficulties of gathering the data given so briefly in this book lead me to suggest and urge that efforts be made for the better preservation of family records in the future. Formerly our ancestors kept their family records religiously set down in their family bibles, while the churches kept records of births, baptisms, and marriages. The people were anchored to the soil and had a fixed abiding place. For this reason one formerly knew where to look for information of this character. But every passing year makes it more difficult to keep track of families. People have cut loose, as it were, from the soil, transportation facilities have made migration easier, and individuals are quickly lost in our denser and less stable population. This difficulty of keeping track of families and of individuals must therefore increase unless some sort of effort is made to prevent it.