Hello all. I'm forwarding this from the Surrey List. I feel that the
sentiments expressed are universal for those researching their family
history.
Donna King
List Owner Tolpuddle/Cannell Mailing Lists
deking(a)rogers.com
LOVELESS/LOVELACE GENEALOGY PAGE -
UNITED KINGDOM/CANADA/AUSTRALIA
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~martyrs
Donna's Genealogy Page
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/3288
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some
are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors...but they all
have to learn to live in the same box.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO!!
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 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
for
me there? I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am and why 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 bones, 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 a 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.
(Author - unknown.)
----- Original Message -----
From: "MSKelleher" <kelleher(a)nex.net.au>
To: <ENG-SURREY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 11:04 PM
Subject: [SRY] Ancestor poem
Can anyone do better than this
You are my Ancestor
As I stand, gazing at your crumbling tomb,
that is, amidst so many more of long ago
Your name engraved in marbled stone is barely seen /visible,
but yet it reaches out to those who care,
You are mine,
I have found you
I feel you presence near,
I feel you in my bones.
Your blood is my blood, your cells are my cells,
And
each of us are part of you.
Your spirit lives in my heart and soul.
I wonder if you'd ever dreamt that someday
I would find this spot, and stand and pray
And how I'd feel today as I touch this weathered stone
I, who would have loved you so,
know it is to late to mourn.
as you have lived so many years ago
I know who you are, and where you were born
Who you loved and when you married.
I've often wondered how you lived and died,
You would never have known that I would live,
To see your grave and sigh
for you and yours had died long before I was here today.
We, your family who now live,
know that you would be proud today to now there is
one of us that is called to tell the family story and make us live again,
and to know that you'd approve
==== ENG-SURREY Mailing List ====
Contact List Admin by email at ENG-SURREY-admin(a)rootsweb.com
How to subscribe, unsubscribe and use the list archives
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/ENG/ENG-SURREY.html
==== ENG-SURREY Mailing List ====
West Surrey FHS website :
http://www.wsfhs.org/
East Surrey FHS website :
http://www.eastsurreyfhs.org.uk/