That is kind, Stephanie, but one of the problems with the work I was doing was that I intended to briefly look at only New Brunswick families. This, as it turned out, is impossible. One has to consider the families in Preston, Africville, Birchtown, Truro and in the Annapolis and Digby counties. Not to mention Boston and Maine. This was too much for me, and I hope that, someday, someone can begin a study of NS families.
To me Genealogy is the 'skeleton' of history. For example, if you study the Duke of Wellington, you begin with his family and biography. Upon this you can build a history of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars and after. With family, you often take in much of the history of a country or continent. You cannot fully study your ancestors without also studying the times they lived in and the events in which they took part, even peripherally. From this you gain an understanding of why things are the way you are and especially why you are the way you are. For some people, their History has been ignored and even lost. Genealogy is a means to recover some of it and to provide a structure on which to 'flesh out' that History. Wellington did not win the Battle of Waterloo, there were thousands involved. Knowing something about some of those thousands puts the event into a more personal perspective for many people.
I have often felt that the creation and existence of No. 2 Construction Battalion may have had political and social consequences after WWI. I am not sure and hope that, someday, someone will be able to find out. I believe there may be people living who new the participants and can give some personal insight, but they won't be around for long. Not only do we 'lose' History by not paying attention to it; it gets 'changed' to meet someone's expectations rather than reflecting any element of reality.
I think the thing to remember is not to make the mistake I made when sources were readily available to me, and to be sensitive to material seemingly irrelevant but becoming essential later.
Thomas.