To all lists members I WISH YOU ALL A GOOD AND FORTUNATE NEW
MILLENNIAL and
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Dealing with our ancestors and a new century brings to mind our
ancestors. Perhaps from the 1600's or 1700's, 1800, and 1900's we have
found their roots and with this
changing of century we are entering a new time so lets us appreciate the
past as we
enter the 21st century and 2nd millennial for without the past we are
nothing. We are
carrying our roots for those who have braved the past for us fortunate
enough to be here today. I wonder if we could choose the time frame we
were born in what would be chose. I feel being born when I did after
WWII as it might of been the most fortunate time frame I could of been
born in. As a geographer I know the those who live well into 21sth
Century will be facing a world of no new frontiers and ever pressing
population. Our ancestors had to brave a much bleaker world then many of
us and I give thanks to them for paving the way for many of us who have
had it made compared to those before the post WWII time frame.
When I look back into the records of my ancestors who paved the way,
liked my ggggrandfather Emanuel Martin and ggggrandmother Mary Geiger
Martin who braved the frontier to settle in Florida in 1827 and faced
many hardship including Indian attacks I give thanks. For my Bullock
ancestors who lived in the midst of the Revolutionary War and some who
helped fight for our freedom I give thanks. Some were the settlers who
were minute men of the militia ready for when the alarm might be
sounded.
As an Anthropologist in a way I can sense some of the culture changes
that have occurred as our ancestors pushed aside the native cultures
(and I feel a certain sadness in my heart for the native cultures who
were so drastically altered and mostly destroyed). Our way of life has
so drastically changed during the last 100 years with automobiles,
phones, radios, new medicines and treatments, TV and as of late
computers. Today we are in the midst of a culture change that has
immensely compressed time and space involving satellites, TV, and
computers. All of this can be mentally taxing and I hope we put it to
the best use and one of the best uses seems to be the internet and
genealogy research. My New Years wish is scads and scads more people
get involved in genealogy because of the computer and may we find many,
many new cousins in the 21st Century and find many many lost ancestors.
Rick Bullock, list owner