Would you become more aware of your present actions and take good care of your character if you realized that it would affect your descendants further into the future?

They likely were far more occupied by immediate practical concerns… Maybe this was a decision they had to make to get a job, or legal papers, or welfare… How often do you think of the effects that your everyday actions will have upon your descendants?

We all have the same ancestors if you go back far enough… I don’t know about my roots any earlier than 3 generations.

Could be the child out of wedlock was a result of rape or incest and they didn’t want future generations to know who the monster was.

No. I don’t live my life and make decisions based on how they might affect my descendents.

I can trace my family tree back about four generations. I haven’t gone further than that yet. I know my maternal grandparents separated and remarried without divorcing. I know one of my great Aunts had an illegitimate child who was raised as her sister rather than her daughter. I am aware that older generations saw these things as quite shocking and would prefer the information remained as ‘skeletons in the cupboard’. Still, these things happen. I doubt I, or any other future relatives, featured heavily in my ancestors thought processes. They were making decisions based on what they thought was best for them and perhaps their family, at that time.

I don’t completely see how this is some big tragedy for the descendants. and you are imposing 21st Century values on something from generations back, when the scandal of an out of wedlock birth was enough to force people to move hundreds of miles from family and friends.

The only descendants I keep in mind when I consider things are my children. If I do the best that I can for them, then future generations won’t be questioning my behavior a hundred years from now.

Your descendants are your children and so on.
Example: If you won a large lotto…wouldn’t that affect your childrens future? Of course..they would be looked after well into the future.
Same as IF you became bankrupt…that too woould effect the childrens future…no College etc
What I am trying to explain is tht what you do today affects not only YOUR outcome But your
Childrens outcome , and so on.

@Inspired_2write Yes, most all of us consider what we do as affecting our children and keep that in mind. But really, that only extends until they are educated and out of the house. My kids will be on their own. If they are off raising families on their own and I go bankrupt, they have no responsibility for that nor does it affect their ability to take care of themselves. And there is no future effect on any generations beyond my kids.

Not at all. My life is my own. I do not live for my ancestors or my potential descendants.