----- Original Message ----- From: <WyleneL@aol.com> To: <BELCHER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 5:28 PM Subject: [BELCHER] Kinsman! > KINSMAN > (original poem by Wayne Hand, 1999) > > Alas, my elusive kinsman, > You've led me quite a chase. > I thought I'd found your courthouse, > But the Yankees burned the place. > You always kept your bags packed, > Although you had no fame, > And just for the fun of it, > Twice you changed your name. > You never owed any man, > Or at least I found no bills. > In spite of eleven offspring, > You never left a will. > They say our name's from Europe, > Came state side on a ship. > Either they lost the passenger list, > Or great granddad gave them the slip. > I'm the only one looking, > Another searcher I can't find. > I pray (maybe that's his fathers name) > As I go out of my mind. > They said you had a headstone, > In a shady plot. > I've been there twenty times, > And can't even find the lot. > You never wrote a letter, > Your Bible we can't find. > It's probably in some attic, > Out of sight and out of mind. > You first married a .... Smith, > And just to set the tone. > The other four were Sarah's, > And everyone a Jones. > You cost me two fortunes, > One of which I did not have. > My wife, my house and Fido, > God, how I miss that yellow lab. > But somewhere you slipped up, > Ole Boy, Somewhere you left a track. > And if I don't find you this year, > Well .... Next year I'll be back! > This is the epitome of what I have been through finding my elusive Great Great Grandfather, Nelson J. Belcher. What a great poem! Barb >