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From: "J HERMAN DOROTHY M SMITH" <>
Subject: RE: [GASCREVE] Re: [DNA] Genealogist's Poem - in lieu of list traffic... ...Kinda Off Topic...
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 09:59:14 -0500


I can tell you that this touched me more than you could know[ or probably
not] as we all are doing the same thing, I have an older sister who is
listed as male, I wonder if generations to follow will understand the
mistakes were just so, mistakes , my mother was a high school graduate and
one of the smartest women I knew but she named my sister after my dad and
she, after losing a son they named her WILLIE after my dad and LEE after my
mom so I can see where it was a mistake easily made, God Bless all of them
who compiled the census and those who struggled so hard to give the correct
information, we love all of you. Dorothy


> [Original Message]
> From: Dale E. Reddick <>
> To: <>
> Date: 12/4/2005 10:47:32 PM
> Subject: [GASCREVE] Re: [DNA] Genealogist's Poem - in lieu of list
traffic... ...Kinda Off Topic...
>
> Hey Eric,
>
> How true it is... ...and was...
>
> I'm sharing Darlene Stevens' poem with several lists to which I belong...
>
> Dale
> ________________________________
>
> Eric Olson wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Voices In My Heart
> >
> >
> >
> > It was the first day of census and all through the land
> >
> > each pollster was ready...a black book in hand.
> >
> > He mounted his horse for a long dusty ride,
> >
> > his books and his quills were tucked close by his side.
> >
> >
> >
> > A long dusty ride down a road barely there,
> >
> > toward the smell of fresh bread wafting up through the air.
> >
> > The woman was tired, with lines on her face
> >
> > and wisps of brown hair she tucked back into place.
> >
> >
> >
> > She gave him some water as they sat at the table,
> >
> > and she answered his questions the best she was able.
> >
> > He asked her of children. Yes, she had quite a few.
> >
> > The oldest was twenty, the youngest not two.
> >
> >
> >
> > She held up a toddler with cheeks round and red.
> >
> > His sister, she whispered, was napping in bed.
> >
> > She noted each person who lived there with pride,
> >
> > and she felt the faint stirrings of the wee one inside.
> >
> >
> >
> > He noted the sex, the color, the age,
> >
> > the marks from the quill soon filled up the page.
> >
> > At the number of children, she nodded her head,
> >
> > and he saw her lips quiver for the ones that were dead.
> >
> >
> >
> > The places of birth she "never forgot"...
> >
> > Was it Carolina, or Tennessee, or Georgia or not?
> >
> > They came from Scotland, on that she was clear,
> >
> > But she wasn't quite sure just how long they'd been here.
> >
> >
> >
> > They spoke of employment, of schooling and such.
> >
> > They could read some and write some...though really not much.
> >
> > When the questions were answered, his job there was done,
> >
> > so he mounted his horse and he rode toward the sun
> >
> >.
> >
> > We can almost imagine his voice loud and clear,
> >
> > "May God bless you all for another ten years."
> >
> > Now picture a time warp...its now you and me
> >
> > as we search for the people on our family tree.
> >
> >
> >
> > We squint at the census, and scroll down so slow,
> >
> > as we search for that entry from long, long ago.
> >
> > Could they only imagine on that long ago day
> >
> > that the entries they made would affect us this way.
> >
> >.
> >
> > If they knew, would they wonder at the yearning we feel
> >
> > and the searching that makes them so increasingly real?
> >
> > We can hear if we listen, the words they impart
> >
> > Through their blood in our veins and their voice in our heart.
> >
> >
> >
> > Courtesy of the author Darlene Stevens
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> ==============================
> Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the
> last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more:
http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx



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