|
More Genealogy
|
WHAT GENEALOGY MEANS TO ME
Written by Charlene Holland
According to the dictionary genealogy is:
1. A record or account of the descent of a family, group or
person from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.
2. Direct descent from a progenitor; lineage or pedigree.
3. The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.
To me, however, genealogy is a whole lot more than those three dry sentences. It is finding my roots, my family, and my home.
It is seeing my grandparents as a young couple in a census record with their two baby girls; children who I know will be dead within the year.
It is seeing my mother as a one-month-old child. It is seeing my great grandfather's signature on Civil War records and knowing that he and others like him must have gone through hell.
It is even finding the "skeletons in the closets" or the "black sheep" of the family. It is finding that my family went through some terrible times, but also knowing that they survived. It is seeing in my mind's eye the careworn faces of all of those who have gone on before me.
It is listening to old stories told by our elders and passing those precious stories down. It is writing down those stories and facts for our children and their children. It is finding cousins I had not seen or heard from in more than fifty years. It is finding new "cousins" and new friends, people who have come to mean so very much to me.
It is the realization of how important family is. It is the realization of how important it is to honor those ancestors who came before us.
But most of all, it is the sharing of information with others who like me love the research. It is not just dusty records or words. It is not only sharing the excitement of finding a new ancestor, but also sharing the frustrations of not being able to find what you are looking for. It is the bouncing of ideas back and forth of theories of "what might be" and commiserating with another when that theory falls through, which it often does. It is being able to say "Look! Look what I have found!" and knowing that your excitement will
be shared and understood. It is being able ask a question on a mailing list, knowing that what you are asking may be "dumb" but knowing that you will not be treated with disrespect.
It is people who give of their time and their energies to help you.
It is people who volunteer their time and energies to do lookups on the various county web pages. It is people who volunteer their time and energies for the various historical societies. It is people who give of their time to transcribe old documents and microfilm, and who share that knowledge, whether it is through books sold by historical societies or on web pages.
It is people who go through old cemeteries and take the time to write down those who are buried there and share that knowledge gladly. It is people who share old photographs, old letters and their old family stories, not expecting anything back other than a thank you and the knowledge that they have
helped another in their family quest.
It is people who go above and beyond what is asked of them because they love genealogy. They love the fun of it, the frustrations of it and the excitement of it. It is also the knowledge that you are passing down something of worth; that you are leaving behind a little something of yourself. It is the knowledge that through all of your research you may have made a difference, however small it may be.
This is a little of what genealogy means to me.
|
ANCESTOR HUNTING
Author unknown
I went searching for an ancestor, I cannot find him still.
He move around from place to place and did not leave a will. He married, the courthouse burned, he mended all his fences. He avoided any man who came to take the census.
He always kept his luggage packed, this man who had no fame, And every 20 years or so, this rascal changed his name! His parents came from Europe; they could be on some list Of passengers to the USA, but somehow they got missed.
And no one else anywhere is searching for this man
So I play genie solitaire to find him if I can. I'm told he's buried in a plot, with tombstone he is blessed,
But the weather took engraving and some vandal took the rest.
He died before the county clerks decided to keep records.No family bible has emerged in spite of all my efforts. To top this off, this ancestor, who caused me many groans, Just to give me one more pain, betrothed a girl named JONES!
A GENEALOGIST'S POEM
Written by Mel Oshins
They think that I should wash and clean, and be a model wife, I tell them it's more interesting to study Grandpa's life. They simply do not understand why I hate to go to bed, I'd rather do 200 years of research work instead!
Why waste the time we have on earth just snoring and asleep?
When we can learn of ancestors that sailed upon the deep?
We have priests, Rabbis, lawmen, soldiers, more than just a few.
And yes, there's many scoundrels, and a bootlegger or two.
How can a person find this life an awful drudge or bore,
When we can peek into the lives of folks who came before?
A hundred years from now of course, no one will ever know
Whether I did laundry, but they'll see our TREE and glow!
'Cause their dear old granny left for them, for all posterity,
Not clean hankies and the like, but a finished Family Tree.
My home may be untidy, cause I've better things to do,
Checking all the records to provide us with a clue.
Old granny's pulling roots and branches out with frenzied glee,
Her clothes ain't hanging out to dry; she's hung up on The Tree!
THRIVING CLUB OF "MERRY WIDOWS"
The town of Bartlett, N.H. has the distinction of having more widows in proportion to its size than any town in America yet heard from.The population of the town is less than 1000, about one-third of which are women. At least one-quarter of this number of women are widows, and the most interesting thing about the Bartlett widows is that they are all self-supporting. Widows do every conceivable kind of work in Bartlett. They manage farms, milk cows, team, raise strawberries, and in the berry season pick blueberries and blackberries on the mountains for sale in the large cities. They crate their own berries, do their own gardening, and work side by side with men in the sawmill of the town bunching shingles. They form the majority of the workers in the woodworkers mill, the largest of its kind in New England. They also do woman's own work, such as dressmaking, millinery, nursing and school teaching, while the Bartlett cooks are noted.The summer boarding houses there, which during the vacation are filled with city visitors, are run by widows, and the boarding houses for the sawmill men and the railroad men are managed by widows.It is interesting to observe that few of the Bartlett widows were widowed there, and it is rare indeed that a widow marries in Bartlett.A widow plays the church organ in the leading church of the village. A widow is the town school principal. All the choir singers are widows. There are widows on every street in Bartlett. Every other house on every street contains a widow.In age these theoretically lone women vary from the sunny side of 30 to the shady side of 60.Widows are leaders of society in Bartlett, and the majority of them can handle a six-footer like a man. Indeed, some compete with the men in shooting matches. Numerically so strong are the widows in Bartlett that they have recently formed a novel society, "The Merry Widows' Club." This boasts nearly 100 members. The president, Mrs. John Mersereau, is called "the Queen of the Bartlett Widows," perhaps 50, as spry and jolly as a girl, and famed through the country as its best cook. The secretary, Mrs. Lulu Wilson, is the youngest widow of the society, and a school teacher; the treasurer, Mrs. Susan Foster, is a nurse. At one time she managed a millinery store. She is a mother of a fine family of children, and has a cozy home.Mrs. Jane Stewart, chairman of the executive committee and vice president of the Widow's society, works in the woodworking mill, and owns a pretty little cottage in the center of Bartlett. She has an adopted child, a waif she took from an orphan asylum. Mrs. Isabel Muir, another member of the executive committee, boards railroad men, and Mrs. Jane Wasson, another member, is a successful nurse and housekeeper."Why shouldn't we be merry widow?" said Mrs. Mersereau, the society president. "We can take care of ourselves; we are healthy, and have all the work we need; we are a community where we have plenty of honest admirers. We have no reason to be sorrowful, and every reason to be merry."
|
