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Contributors and ResearchersWe would like to thank the wonderful people who helped make this web site possible by sharing their information, research, documents and photos. By pooling our resources, we all gain a more complete and accurate view of our ancestors. We appreciate your generosity which benefits all who are interested in the families on this web site. [Our apologies if we've inadvertently failed to add someone to this list.]
WE, 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
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
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. (Unknown Author) |
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Disclaimer; Copyright 2002-2008 by Show Me...The Bitticks; www.showmethebitticks.com;
Mary Bittick Gallano and Ronda J. Snider
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