Thank you for sharing that. It is lovely, shame the author didn't put his name. I will also pass it on. Jo :) http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/jo14 I use Archive CD Books to do my family history research.www.archivecdbooks.org http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/index.php?referrerid=18 http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/jo14 I use Archive CD Books to do my family history research.www.archivecdbooks.org http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/index.php?referrerid=18 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charlie Moore" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 2:46 PM Subject: [SHAW] WE ARE THE CHOSEN... > Fellow Listers, > > I apologize if this is a duplicate for you. But I thought this little > story sums up why we do what we do. I received it some time back and have > added it to my Family Heritage scrapbook that I am working on. The author > is unknown but my hat is off to him/her for putting it appropriately in > words. I share it with you in case you wish to use it, too. It is pinted > below my signature line. > > Charlie MOORE > My Family History website: www.geocities.com/pm28766/ > > Researching in OH, MD, VA, NJ: ALEXANDER, BARNETT, BEALL, BRIGHTWELL, > BROOKE, BURK, CLEGGIN, CONLEY/CONWAY, COYNE, DAVIS, DICKERSON, DILWORTH, > DOLLINGS, EATON, EDWARDS, FLING, FORD, FRAZIER, GOODIN, HART, HOWARD, > HIGGASON, HULL, JAMES, JENKINS, JESSOP, JOHNSON, JONES, JOY, KIGER, > KILPATRICK, KING, MALLORY, MARTIN, MASON, MILLER, MOORE, O'CARROLL, > OWINGS, PARSONS, PHILLIPS, POULAIN, PRICE, RESTLER, ROBERT, SAVORY, SHAW, > SHIPLETT, SKINNER, SOUSLIN, STAUFINGER, STEIN, STICKEL, STODGEN, TEAL, > TIGNOR, TODD, TRACY, VANDEGRIFF, WALKER > > My Wife's lines in NY, PA: BROEDER, BROWN, CRITES, DUFF, ERNFREIT, > FLANEGIN, GLAYBELL, HIVLEY, LOHRKE, McCOLLUM, O'CONNOR, ODILIVA, ROBEY, > SIMONS, STAEPHASE, STOEWHAAS, THIEDE, WILSON, WOODS, and WORLING > > ================================================================== > > We Are The Chosen > > > > We are the chosen. 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. > > > Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing > life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers 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 the fathers fought and some died to make and > keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they > were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers > struggled to give us birth. Without them we could not exist, and so we > love each one, as far back as we can reach. > > > 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 they and they are the sum of who we are. 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 my 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 restore the memory or greet those whom we had never > known before. > > > > -Author Unknown > > > > > > > > > ==== SHAW Mailing List ==== > Suggestions? Please email the Shaw List Administrator: > [email protected] > >