Custer County, Colorado
Why Do Genealogy
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The Story Tellers.....
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 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
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.
(Unknown Author)
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