Shaking the tree

I ,like a lot of others,have been working on the family tree. I've been doing this for about six or seven years now. There are many resources available on the Internet. Of course I know the immediate family and the ones I can remember.
Records can be cold statistical things. The census for one. Just the facts ma'am ! Each census taken is a little different with different questions asked. If you take a close look you can see the changing times and social sensitivities. On at least one they ask if a family member is idiotic ! Can you imagine ?
I try to find old cards and letters. They are a wealth of information and you can often get a better picture of what was happening in the family. Every family has mysteries to be solved. My parents generation and the ones before didn't speak of certain things. Our generation is a bit more open I think. Even I tend to be a bit closed mouthed about certain periods in my life.
I wish I had asked more questions of my Grandparents.
It is interesting to note the names we know people by may or may not be there actual name. Take my father for instance,his real name was Austin but he was known as Ben. Very few knew this tidbit of information. Those that did assumed it was his middle name,not true. The middle name was Bennett. I have learned doing my research to check various spellings too. There are a host of names to check like Peggy may be Margaret. Bill is William. Chuck for Charles. Nicknames can be very frustrating. In today's world I think it will be easier for future generations to figure out. A lot of forms ask fort his information now.
I have been fortunate to discover most of my ancestors. Some go back in America to the 1600s'.Other immigrated in the 1800s'.
Someone in my family has served in every conflict/war these United States has ever engaged in. Someone in my family probably voted for all the great Presidents. Washington,Lincoln,etc. My family witnessed the birth of this nation and helped in some part to make it what it is today.
I keep shaking the tree and hope something falls out. There are mysteries there. I was always told my Grandmother had ten children. I knew most of them. My Aunts and Uncles. I have discovered there was in fact eleven. A little girl named Alma was this lost soul. She left this world as an infant. Her exact age I do not know. Her place of burial I do not know. No one in the family remembers this information. It just wasn't talked about. Isn't that sad ? My mother is the last of these ten children and I constantly pick her memory. She told me she had only heard rumors of this because her sisters didn't speak of it when she was around.
Another bit of information I discovered is that my Great Grandfather had a sister. I knew him well and he never spoke of this. His sister died as an infant and is buried next to her mother. My Great Grandmother was a lady named Sarah Parker. She died young of convulsions. That is all that is known of her. I have been unable to identify her parents. A gap in the tree. A broken branch.
I intend to write down all this information and pass it along. Perhaps I'll write a memoir that includes all my secrets. The problem there is I wouldn't want any living person that knew me to read it ! It would have to be placed in some kind of time locked device that will only open in say 150 years. People love gossip and I would like the record to be straight. Something I'll have to give more thought too!