Some families know a great deal about their roots; others know very little. This site is one of my attempts to record what I've learned about our family history. This quest began so my children and other family members would know our heritage and where they come from. We have found so many people during this search, both relatives and other researchers. They have been most helpful. Please read "The Story Tellers". The author is unknown and was provided to me by Jennifer Nichols. Thanks, Jennifer.
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 bones and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it.
It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to ccomplish. 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.
Author Unkown
This is a work in progress, so please contact me if you have any information that might help round out the picture. As with any geneaological research the information shared here is subject to change and is subject to the reader's own evaluation and validation. I believe the information posted here to be accurate but census records, published books of family histories, other recorded history, public records and all of the other resources relied upon to establish family lines may not always be accurate. If you find items you believe are inaccurate please contact me. Please sign my guestbook and let me know what you think of the site. |
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Acknowledgments and Surnames There are so many people to thank for their help in my genealogy search. Family members, other researchers, distant cousins found during our research, library staffs, etc. The best acknowledgement for all those folks is to help others as I have been helped. Surnames include: Hagin, Hendrix, Blue, Hendry, Thompson, Burkhalter, Sheppard, Townsend, Jones, Allen, Lowe, McWhorter, Mewborn, Pettyjohn, McCall, Strickland, Carlton, Alderman, Spencer and others. Please visit the links for various families. |
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