> I hope this is your idea of what genealogy is ! It says it well ! > > Hi all, > How perfectly the following expresses my feelings (and yours?) about > collecting the stories of our families who have gone on before us. > > William Glendinning > Northern Ireland > The Story Tellers.... > > We are the chosen. My feelings are that in each family there is one who seems > called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live > again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and > approve. > > To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, > breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe; > all tribes have one. We have been called as if it were in our genes. Those who > have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story, and so we do. > > In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood > before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors > you have a wonderful family and you would be proud of us? How many times have > I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot > say. > > It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do > the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds > and indifference and saying I cannot let this happen. The bones here are bones > of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It > goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish and how they > contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, > and never giving in or giving up. Their resoluteness to go on and build a life > for their family. > It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes > to a deep and immense understanidng that they were doing it for us. That we > might be born who we are and that we might remember them, and so we do. > > With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we > are them and they are us. So, as a scribe I am called, I tell the story of my > family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call > and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. > > That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those yound ang > old to step up and put flesh on the bones. Author Unknown > > > > > > Outgoing mail from this location is verified virus-free: > McAfee ViruScan 2004 (8.0), Data file: 4.0.4346, dated 3/31/2004 > > > ==== GRANNYS-NA-PANTRY Mailing List ==== > Welcome to GRANNYS-NA-PANTRY-L, a place where all colors of the Rainbow are welcomed. A safe place without discrimanshion:You may wont to check with Ancestry.com/ or www.rootsweb.com/ for more research. Thank you for subscribing to our list! > >