If you are serious about genealogy, you will inevitable find a census record that is almost illegible. I have squinted at many of them. So, when I found this little poem I thought, “So true.”
Ocupsyshun - sencus taker
“I am a cencus takers for the city of Bufflow. Our City has groan very fast in resent years and now in 1865, it has become a hart and time consuming job to count all the peephill. There are not many that can do this werk, as it is nesessarie to have an ejucashun, wich a lot of pursons still do not have. Anuther atribeart needed for this job is good speling, for many of the pepill to be counted can hardle speek inglish, let alon spel there names!”
Genealogists
We are people to whom the past is forever speaking. We listen to it because we cannot help ourselves, for the past speaks to us with many voices.
Far out of that dark nowhere which is the time before we were born, men and women who were flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone went through fire and storm to break a path to the future.
We are part of the future they died for; they are part of the past that brought the future. What they did - the lives they lived, the sacrifices they made, the stories they told, the songs they sang, and, finally, the deaths they died - make up a part of our own experience.
We cannot cut ourselves off from it. It is as real to us as something that happened last week. It is a basic part of our heritage as human beings.
YOU
2 parents
4 grandparents
8 gr grandparents
16 gg grandparents
32 ggg grandparents
64 gggg grandparents
128 ggggg grandparents
256 gggggg grandparents
512 ggggggg grandparents
1,024 gggggggg grandparents
2,048 ggggggggg grandparents
4,096 gggggggggg grandparents
8,192 ggggggggggg grandparents
16,384 ggggggggggg grandparents
32,768 ggggggggggggg grandparents
65,536 gggggggggggggg grandparents
131,072 ggggggggggggggg grandparents
262,144 gggggggggggggggg grandparents
524,288 ggggggggggggggggg grandparents
1,048,576 gggggggggggggggggg grandparents
2,097,152 ggggggggggggggggggg grandparents
4,194,304 gggggggggggggggggggg grandparents
You have a lot of work to do.
* The genealogist, not wanting to lie about his ancestor but not wanting anyone to know the person was hanged, wrote, “Grandfather died during a public ceremony when the platform on which he was standing collapsed beneath him”.
* “In our family,” the little girl told her teacher, “everybody married relatives. My father married my mother, my uncle married my aunt, and just the other day I found out that my grandfather married my grandmother.”
* A modern mother is explaining to her little girl about pictures in the family photo album. “This is the geneticist with your surrogate mother and here’s your sperm donor and your father’s clone. This is me holding you when you were just a frozen embryo. The lady with the very troubled look on her face is your aunt, a genealogist.”
* Some men’s names appear in the paper only 3 times:
The first time they’re too young to read it,
The second time they’re too dazed to read it,
The last time they’re too dead to read it.
Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. (Joel 1:3)
They say you should give a child roots and wings. Here are your roots. Be proud that a tiny bit of each of these people has gone into making you the young woman you are today, and the woman you will become. Now spread your wings and soar.
Pictures are worth a thousand words - but only if you know the words.
(Don’t forget to journal)
Remember your history. To forget is to not belong. (Charlotte A. Black Elk)
Sooner or later a person learns to write thing down.
It’s the best way to capture things we are apt to forget.
The strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink.
What is not written and recorded is soon forgotten. Just as our photographs need an acid-free environment to protect them, our words need a place to be stored. Our stories need a place to rest, to be treasured and safely contained. Our albums become our treasure chests that keep our pictures and words from the ravages of time, dust and decay. Words allow us to gather the pictures and meanings together and give them as gifts to those we love. (UM Jenifer P.)
Family Heirloom
(Jeannine Richardson)
For every picture you take a moment in time is remembered
A family’s heritage is its personal journey through history
Memories will fade making the written word priceless
In every family someone must take time to preserve its past
Looking at the past can strengthen who you are today
Yesterday is gone, but the memories are cherished through photos and journals.
Hours of enjoyment are held within the pages of the family scrapbook,
Everyone has pictures…everyone has a story to tell…
It’s not the jewels or china we would risk our lives for in a fire
Rich is the family who knows who they are…and where they came from
Learning to properly preserve photographs is not difficult
Old photographs lack the joy they could have when not preserved and labeled
Ordinary moments become special when captured on film
May we not put off any longer the task of preserving our heritage.
