Here is the Sunday Rockin' that Jan wrote for us.. Hope you enjoy it.. Cher Afternoon All, > I often, as probably many of you do, think about the menagerie in my own > family tree. The good, the bad...and the ugly. It is probably one of the > most spiritual and humbling experiences I can think of. Kinda has a way of > deflating you and putting you in mind of what our purpose IS. Bear with > me...I suspect one of the major realizations of genealogy has little to do > with names and dates...it is a journey of growth... > Like most of us, I have some folks to be proud of...people who made real > contributions to American history and had a part in the history of the > world. There are a lot of ministers in that tree who from all indications > were sincere ones, there is a well known group of gospel singers, there are > soldiers who gave their lives in every single war for this great nation of > ours, a few who made historical records and were in important political > positions where they could and did make a significant difference for a lot > of folks. In short ....my family tree is not much different from yours. I > think most of us whose families lived in the area of Middle Tenn. as well as > surrounding areas can probably date our lines any way we look to back at > least the beginning of this nation or before, simply because of the > migration patterns and the way and times that part of the country was > settled. > I have some folks I find very interesting....just like you. I have > Indians (quite a few of them) and Indian fighters (quite a few of them too). > I have more than a few Confederate grandpas, and one Union one...and I am > not at all sure that their reasons for being who they were stemmed from what > most will have us believe was the major cause of that war. I have a number > of grandpas in the Revolution, from drummer boys to soldiers. I have great > landowners and more than a few sodbusters scratching out a living on > whatever plot of land they could. My family tree is probably not much > different from yours. > I also have folks I am not so proud of ....just like you. If have law > abiding citizens, I ALSO have some that have bent the law to accommodate > their own purposes. I have folks who twiddled away their lives either > causing more harm than good, or abusing the chance they had to do good for > the people who were of their times and world. I have folks who did not do > right by their families they brought into the world, and folks who quite > plainly did not do the world in general right. I have folks I am not so > proud of, more than a few who have surprised me and made my heart sink .... > and that I suspect, is true of any honest genuine genealogist's research > results. Mama sometimes thinks old bones are better off left resting and > tells me so, but fact is I want to know...the good, the bad, the ugly. > The fact is they are all part of who I am ....they are all my family and > in one way or another they all made a contribution to rounding the forces > and environment that shaped me (if you are one of the nurture over nature > theory), and they all made a contribution to the biology that determined my > genes (if you are one of the nature over nurture theory)....either way they > all played a determining role in shaping me. And either way they ARE all > family, and can't be denied. No, my family tree is not much different from > yours. > What we have, those of us who stay at this very long, is a very humbling > experience. We realize no one has a right to brag, and no one has a reason > to be ashamed...because everyone long of this nation has a family tree is a > colorful crazy quilt of bits and pieces of a lot of fabrics, and all of it > stitched together in the crazy quilt way that means in a family tree any > type is fair game to turn up and more than likely is there....all of > em...every kind of ugly the world can offer, and every kind of good too. And > that, folks brings one down to earth in terms of living right here, right > now. > Everywhere we look, in our own families, in our neighborhoods, in our > towns and our country, there is the good, the bad and the ugly. And every > one of us is probably in the best position as genealogy researchers to know, > that any one of those people can be a cousin we don't know. That's an > exciting possibility in one manner of speaking for us...and one real reason > why we do this...because every day or so, just around the corner most of us > discover a new kinship....but it is also a sobering thought when we get our > noses out of genealogy and take a good hard look at the world. Do we really > want to be a cousin to that murderer on the front page of the paper? Do we > really want to be connected in a family tree to a bigamist, or a drug dealer > or a thief? Do we really want that homeless man with no thought but his > next "fix" to be the ggg grandpa of our future generations in our own line? > Do we want that prostitute to the the gg grandmother of OUR gg > grandchildren??? Probably not...yet the fact is that any one of today's > folks can wind up the ancestors of our OWN family line, the people who shape > OUR great grandchildren. Brings new meaning to the Christian idea that all > of us are "brothers and sisters" doesn't it? Brings a little new meaning to > the idea that we are all responsible for one another, huh? We may very well > be connected from the past...and we know it. And we may very well be > connected in the future, whether we want to admit it or not. > Maybe the road to realization of our place in the world through > researching family lines is a LOT more than just getting the names and dates > right...maybe the end of the journey has more to do with realizing our > responsibility in the place and time...just a thought, > jan