This is what I posted to the old PA-Dutch genealogy list several years ago. I was prompted to write it because a few of the list members were getting restless due to a few postings that had to do with local customs, old recipes of our ancestors and a bit of sharing of memories that had to do with growing up in that special culture. I hope that you can relate to it no matter what country your ancestors immigrated from. DINOSAUR BONES January 18, 1998 I got to thinking today about the similarity between dinosaur bones and genealogy. An archeologist digs for years and years, finds big fragments of dinosaur bones and small fragments of dinosaur bones. He labels each piece as to where they were dug up and at the glorious end, he puts together the complete skeleton of his dinosaur. He stands back and admires his accomplishment, knowing that everyone will appreciate the magnificent skeleton he has put together and has placed in a museum. And, in a way, that's the way a number of us have started out--building our family structure and labeling each fragment as we went along. And, in the end, we print out our magnificent ancestral chart, hang it on the wall and . . . and . . . and . . . we don't find many of our family moved by it. Why? Because all that we have put together is a framework of BONES!! No one has a clue as to what sort of flesh surrounded those bones nor the history of them. And that's when we realized that unless we got to thinking about how that skeleton grew and lived--maybe as a persecuted Mennonite in Switzerland in the 1500s, maybe as a German who somehow managed to live through a generation of the Thirty Years War, a German who immigrated into Pennsylvania only to find himself in the middle of the French and Indian War with the Indian massacres threatening on a daily basis--and as a Pennsylvania-Dutchman on through the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, WWI, WWII and on into the newer bones of that skeleton. Without knowing a single thing about the history of the bones, all that anyone can see is just a pile of meticulously labeled bones. And, in a way, that's what we've been talking about these past couple of days. We've been sharing memories of our childhood and in so doing, there is no doubt but what a number of us have realized that we have posted something to the list that maybe we should at least make a printout of and put it into our "memory books." With this list we span a number of generations. We have great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and our kids. It pleased me that the Baby Boomers (the younger generation) were interested in how the old Depression Babies managed to "conquer" the computer. It seemed as though we were sitting down as one big family and talking about our mutual family history. Comfort food, yes; yucky food and yummy food, yes. But at the same time we were adding another fragment of flesh onto the skeleton (and, yes, I could add, "In more ways than one!") With those on the list who were a bit annoyed that the big family was no longer paying strict attention to the bare bones, I have a feeling that they are at the early stages of their family research. They're still digging up the bones and labeling them. And for that, I would like to give them all the encouragement in the world. It ain't an easy task. But I would also like to warmly say to them that when they get their whole magnificent skeleton put together, come back, sit down for some coffee soup and sugar bread and let us help you put some flesh on those bones of yours. Vee L. Housman