Greetings again everyone! Some of you will read this twice. I decided to send it again, because, spontaneously, the sender's name changed from Michelle Robinson to ????????, causing some to delete it. So....as I said in the previous e-mail, I decided to let you all know that I have a web site up and running now. The information that is on the site is due mostly to you all, so I wanted to let you all know about it. Please let me know of any errors and/or ommissions, so that I can fix them! 8-) Also, I wanted to let you all read an e-mail message sent to a member of one of the lists that I belong to. Her family was giving her a hard time because she wanted to dig into her roots. This letter says it all...... Good luck all, and happy hunting! Michelle muesic@msn.com http://muesicmo.tripod.com The Story Tellers..... > > We are the chosen. My feelings are 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 it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell > our story. 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 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 can't 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. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes > to respecting their hardships and losses, their 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 understanding that they were doing it for us. > > That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. 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 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 > young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. ( Unknown Author