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Archiver > MABRISTO > 2004-12 > 1102118131


From: Teddy Ronan <>
Subject: Re: [MABRISTO] Rehoboth School Master
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 18:55:31 -0500
References: <20041203032336.17765.qmail@web51301.mail.yahoo.com> <41B07D2C.70306@comcast.net>
In-Reply-To: <41B07D2C.70306@comcast.net>


I'm afraid I deleted most of the threads to this message. I hope you
have seen the wonderful poem about our family story tellers. If not
(sorry if this is repeat)

It's been revised a bit from the anonymous version

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 of those who have gone before us.

We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. Our genes
have called us. 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 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 for me there? I cannot say. How many
chill-bumps have the ancestors' signatures in historical documents
elicited? Countless.

It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am and why 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 we scribe each fact of their existence,
because we are they and they are we.

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 Unknown


sufred wrote:
> Carol, you are so fortunate. God Bless you. Susan
>
> Carol H wrote:
>
>> I have been lucky enough to have a grandmother with a
>> memory that would not quit. She got me started on the
>> genealogy hunt over 26 years ago. When she was in her
>> 80s, she started writing down stories from her
>> childhood and as a young wife and mother. Besides
>> those, she also wrote stories told to her by her
>> mother and dad. I always had a special bond with my
>> gram. I was her first grandchild and was born on her
>> birthday. I have tapes of her telling her stories as
>> well as the book my mom typed from all of grams
>> handwritten stories. There were 160 pages of stories
>> and another 40 of poem and songs she still remembered
>> from grammar school. I have been told that I tell
>> stories just like Gram. I only hope I have her genes.
>> She worked on the family tree research with me until
>> the week before she died at the age of 104. She is
>> descended from the Carpenter family of Rehoboth.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> =====
>> Carol Sherman Houghton
>>
>> Searching: Sherman, Briggs, Gibbs, Hall, Smith in New England
>>
>> Houghton, Moore, Palmer, Franklin in West Va., Virginia, Penn. & New York
>>
>> __________________________________________________
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>>
>> ==============================
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> ==============================
> Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records.
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>
>

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