Next Steps for the Family Tree:

The enclosed family tree has many names missing, it needs to be edited and updated constantly.
This is your family tree. I would be grateful if you could look at it carefully, and inform me of any updates, provide any missing information, and any corrections that need to be made so that your branch of the family tree may be complete. Further, please provide the address, email address, and phone numbers, of people who you know on the tree, so that the family can be brought into communication with one another. I wish to mention that it is your project. I would like to seek your guidance on what other information you would like to be included in the tree, such as dates of birth, dates of wedding, and dates of death of the family members who are no longer with us. Our family tree is more than a list of names; we must upload photos, stories, and much more to the tree to make it all that it can be. Any of your inputs is valued, and may please be sent to me.

History

A family tree with 14 generations and 2753 people would make anyone on it proud, and the tree is growing every day

I firmly believe that bringing the entire family together will require collective efforts, and I am only trying to facilitate this venture. To allow us to work together I have created a Family tree, a Website and a Trust.

Almost 35 years ago, I saw the original family tree at Laxman Chachaji’s (Dr. Laxman Das Tandon) house in Kanpur, where my father was getting treatment for cancer. It was in the shape of an actual tree, almost like a work of art. Twenty years later I was visiting Kanpur once more, and I enquired about the tree. I had always wanted to get a copy of the tree and update it, but at the time I didn’t yet start the project. My mission to update the tree started in November 2011 when I visited India once more.

First I went to Kanpur and met the families of Laxman Chachaji and Rameshwar Chachaji to get a transcript of the original tree that I would update. Then I went to Shikohabad to see our ancestral homeland, complete with old houses that still stand and the temple. I visited New Delhi to meet Bishan, Prakash, and Gopal Chachaji and their family members. I spoke to many people and got their information and started filling in the family tree. I was sad to see that already the details of our family history were being lost with each passing generation.

But some had tried their best to keep their branches of the tree up to date. Ashok Chacha and Anita Chachi (son and daughter-in-law of Laxman Chachaji) had updated their family tree. Rajiv (son of Rameshwar Chachaji) had made some efforts to put his branch’s tree in a typewritten form, but like the original tree his was missing information about the women in the family and not complete. Despite all their hard work, the last six to seven generations were incomplete or missing all together.

Long story made short, over the next two years I expanded the tree from 175-200 persons in 7 to 8 generations to 2753 persons in 14 generations, and the tree grows each day. Getting the information took some effort in traveling to visit people in India, and my efforts on the phone each morning. Even entering the first 200 names into our tree making program and making it readable was not an easy task either. It took many evenings from my visit to Lucknow, and the effort of my nephew Pranav, who added 3 100+ names (at a cost of 2 Rupees each, which I still owe him). I also must thank my brother Praveen, who spent many hours creating and formatting the first hardcopy of the tree.

Our tree now has details on the women of the family that were missing, and has fleshed out the last three four generations of the Tandons of Shikohabad. All this was possible only through the help and information I received from the members of the family. I wish to thank each of you who helped most profusely.

We have a long history of accomplishment, for I have a booklet praising my great grandfather Lala Jasrat Rai for his work in the community as an honorary magistrate and I am sure each of you have such stories to tell. We have honored this part of our legacy by doing wonderfully for ourselves. Simply searching “Tandon Shikohabad” on Google brings up articles about esteemed members among us, such as Prof RN Tandon, a botanist of international repute. His son Prakash Narain Tandon is again a distinguished neuroscientist and neurosurgeon of International repute. He is the recipient of many national and international awards. He was conferred Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibushan by the nation for his valuable contributions. We pray that he gets Bharat Ratna too. Tandons of Shikohabad and descendants always stood for principles and are known for their integrity and intellect. Take the example of Bishan Narain Tandon who had the courage and conviction to write about the dark era of emergency in our country. My brother, Pramod, is an eminent botanist, was the Vice Chancellor of his university, and has been awarded the Padma Shri. Presently he is a Member of the National Advisory Council. Our story has not yet been told: Lata Buaji, daughter of Ammo Chachaji was talking about great things that he had done in seismology. And these are only the individuals that I know, our story has not yet been told. I rely upon you to tell me all about your accomplishments so that we may celebrate with you, and document them in our family tree, preserving them for those that will come after us. We need all our stories that can go into the website.

Of many branches that were lost for about one hundred years, I tried very, very hard and found many of them (too many to list here). But the branches of Har Bhagwan (35 persons), Kanahiya Lal (82 persons), Keshav Rai (105 persons), and Lalit Behari (128 persons) were the most difficult ones. There are many branches that are still lost and most definitely not forgotten. Find them, we will, sooner or later.