| I just entered "Ratpod (Radeboton)"
of Habsburg, Count of Altenburg and Duke of
Alsace from 990 to 1027, into the Presidential
Family Forest. In many ways, he is not very
different from thousands of others from his time
period who have already been entered into the
database. Although he is probably one of your
ancestors, as well as an ancestor of most of the
people in America and Europe, I don't believe he
would be considered famous. Maybe somewhere he is
still mentioned in school, but probably not
often.
What caught my attention, and caused my
thoughts to wander, was the date of his death.
According to the source I'm working with, he
died June 30, 1027. Not in the first half of the
eleventh century. Not about 1027. It specifically
says June 30, 1027.
Oftentimes, people today search in vain trying
to find an ancestor's death date from one century
ago, and here is the exact month, day, and year
of the death of an ancestor who lived a
millennium ago. Doesn't it seem amazing that this
particular bit of detailed knowledge has endured
for 1,000 years?
And today, after surviving almost ten
centuries stored in paper, knowledge about
"Ratpod (Radeboton)" of Habsburg, Count
of Altenburg and Duke of Alsace, has now been
placed into digital storage.
Will knowledge about this ancestor of ours
survive until the year 3000? Or for that matter,
will knowledge about many (or any) people living
today survive until the year 3000?
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