RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: jaybelnz on Wednesday 20 April 16 01:43 BST (UK)
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Found this the other day - I think it's great, and very appropriate for our descendants!
"We Are The Chosen"
We are the chosen. 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. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers 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 the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth. Without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. 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 they and they are the sum of who we are. 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 my 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 restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before.
-Author Unknown
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Beautiful jayblenz :)
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Dbree, I'm pleased you think so too! When I first read it, I thought to myself "it's all there - that's just how I feel, my spine tingled and my tears ran as I read it, (and I'm not easily moved to tears as I have a dry eyes disorder 😄)
I've added it to the Rootschat Facebook Page, and my own Facebook page, also one of the TOT boards, as it's too good not to share! I'm also going to add it to my tree!
Jeanne
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Most web sites attribute it to by Della M. Cummings Wright in 1943.
However Vanderburgh County INgenWeb ( http://www.ingenweb.org/invanderburgh/ ) attributes it as-
by Della M. Cummings Wright; Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson; Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, 1943.
From what I can find the Tom Dunn version reads
http://onceuponatime.outlawpoetry.com/2011/01/05/tom-dunn-the-storytellers/
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
acts 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 bones 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.
Tom Dunn
Cheers
Guy
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They might call us to tell their story but nobody wants to listen ha ha!!
That was lovely though and very moving Jay.
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Thank you for your contribution Guy!
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Thanks for sharing Jeanne. :) I agree it's all there, and misty eyed here too.
Cheers,
Debbie
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Jayblenz that was very moving and emotional. Now I really know why I am the one in the family who cares for the ancestors.
Sometimes when I make a discovery about a family member or visit a grave I feel myself as being part of their life and now I know why.
As my 10 year old grandson said to me recently when we were talking about family members he knew who have passed away "you know granny they can't really be dead because we keep them in our hearts ".
Will he be the next family storyteller?
Thank you for sharing this with us.
Dorrie
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It is an emotive piece of writing. But it's interesting that in most cases those who get the call seem not to hear it until quite late in life, sometimes - frustratingly - too late for the previous generation to be interrogated. Probably before retirement most do not have enough time to do the research.
Also I guess each generation now adopts such a different lifestyle from its predecessor that the sense of continuity may be diminished?
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That I think sums up each of us that has taken on the task of telling our ancestors stories. It is however as Andrew says, it is often taken on later in life probably when we have more time and the older generation is no longer with us.
They might call us to tell their story but nobody wants to listen ha ha!!
When will the staring into space and the eye rolling stop? Who knows, but there will be another story teller after us, and we can pat ourselves on the back for making their jobs a little easier than ours was.... ;) ;D ;D
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Yes, Andrew, I understand that we mostly seem to get the bug later in life, I expect it's to do with us being busy marrying and raising our own families and making our own way in life!
I was fortunate enough to grow up in close proximity with both sets of grandparents and their extended families, so knew them all well, as we all lived in the same area, all mixed well together, so already had a good knowledge of old family stories, going back to my grandparent's and parent's early lives in Scotland!
It wasn't until much later when a nephew of mine was getting married and wanted to wear a family tartan, that I actually starting digging to see which one he wanted, as there was more than one possibility!
I was lucky enough to have a lot old Family papers, writings, photos and certificates that my maternal grandmother had kept, which I found when I was clearing her house when she moved in with my Mum! She even had my Mums and my Dads birth certs and marriage cert, her own marriage cert, so her parents names and details as well.
At that time I just put it all away, and it wasn't until long after my own children were grown and away from home, and I was making my own way, still working, but of course lots more time on my hands, that the little nudge from my nephew re the tartan set me off on what was to become my long time quest!
By this time I was about in my mid fifties, that little hoard that had been my grandmothers was a wonderful starting point. My parents had also both died quite young, so couldn't ask them any more, so I was very lucky to have that great little treasure box!
And away I went, especially after I retired - and after teaching, needed something to keep my brain working, and still going strong with the research, much easier these days, without having to wind through miles of microfilm, now more expensive of course with subscriptions etc, but also some things can now be more challenging as there's more information on the net to sift through!
I expect most of our offspring, and their offspring, will need to do little more than add in their own memories and their own families if they continue! (Maybe even digging as well to see what scandalous information they can find out about us)! 😄😄
Thank goodness for Rootschat!....(But I also wonder how much they'll read about us in here)! ;D ;D
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Some years ago I came across the following - I cannot remember where and cannot give the author but at the time I felt it very apt when visiting Uffington churchyard and looking at ancestors graves !
Your headstone stands among the rest,neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out in weather beaten stone
It reaches out for all to see,it is too late to mourn
You did not know I would exist,you died and I was born
Yet each of us is part of you,in flesh,in blood,in bone
And in my breast there beats a pulse entirely not my own
Dear ancestor, the space you left those many years ago
Is filled today by all of us,who would have loved you so
I wonder if you laughed and loved,I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this place and come and visit you
Kim
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On a related note is the is the old (Mexican?) proverb. A person dies three deaths. First when the body ceases to function. Second when they are laid to rest and a final time the last time their name is spoken.
This has always resonated with me and I think that's what most of us are trying to do. Postpone that final death.
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What really started me was an interest in a British actor Derek Newark born in 1933 in Great Yarmouth, my hometown. I read a article on him in a Only Fools And Horses book and wanted to know the exact date of birth. I then thought, how shall I go about this? In early 2004 when in London I heard of the Family Records Centre, and went there and looked his birth up in the registers but it was births registered "April, May June 1933". No exact date. I knew he died in 1998 and went to ask about deaths, I then looked and found his exact DOB. I then was inspired by this place, told mum and she suggested we go there to look up when her nan died. We then found she was born in Islington. And since then, I have not stopped, so thanks Derek.
In about 1996 I always wondered who my grandaprents grandaprents were.
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Some years ago I came across the following - I cannot remember where and cannot give the author but at the time I felt it very apt when visiting Uffington churchyard and looking at ancestors graves !
Your headstone stands among the rest,neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out in weather beaten stone
It reaches out for all to see,it is too late to mourn
You did not know I would exist,you died and I was born
Yet each of us is part of you,in flesh,in blood,in bone
And in my breast there beats a pulse entirely not my own
Dear ancestor, the space you left those many years ago
Is filled today by all of us,who would have loved you so
I wonder if you laughed and loved,I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this place and come and visit you
Kim
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Hi Kim....I use this one in the printed version of my trees...I found it online when I googled genealogy poems.....it is entitled "Dear Ancestor" written by Walter Butler Palmer in 1906
Thanks for sharing Jeanne....it's really lovely and I can relate to the sentiments.
Carol
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Treetotal
Thank you for the info on the author - I have made a note of it !!
Kim
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This will come across as a wet blanket but sometimes I think various family genealogy experts are rather protective of their genealogy empire and very closed to alternate information that disagrees with the picture of the family which they've formed.
If they think they're "the chosen" they'll be even worse!
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Love yours too Kim!
Hurworth, you're probably right ;D
Jeanne
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This will come across as a wet blanket but sometimes I think various family genealogy experts are rather protective of their genealogy empire and very closed to alternate information that disagrees with the picture of the family which they've formed.
If they think they're "the chosen" they'll be even worse!
That is an interesting view however I have almost the opposite view to “being the chosen”. However I do agree that as with smokers who have given up smoking who are rabidly against smoking, some “new” genealogists think they know everything and have proved their lineage rather than offering their research for review.
Or perhaps more accurately like the difference between the old landowners who understand they have a duty to those who work for them and the “new money” who think they are the bosses and the workers must do as they’re told.
I am the youngest of four children in my family, my brothers and my sister had little interest in family history (although one brother did develop an interest in the last ten or so years of his life).
I on the other hand had a deep interest from infancy and cannot explain why it should be so important to me; it is not a hobby but an intrinsic part of my life.
I had a head start due to my grandfather’s research but have still been doing family history for around 62/3 years yet I am learning new things constantly and finding out new information about the family constantly. Yet it is never finished; it does has not been proven and is always open to review by myself and others.
Far from being possessive about my research I feel it is a duty to share my knowledge with others. It is almost as though that from the day I was born I was destined to be the caretaker of my family’s journey through time. Even my name is to commemorate my mother’s lineage; her brother the last male in her family to carry the Guy name being killed in the war.
Why was I given the name Guy (as my only forename) when my elder brother Frank Richard who was born after my uncles death could have been given it? I was told later it was to carry on my mother’s family name.
Whether being “the chosen one” is a blessing or a curse is a debateable point as certainly for me I definitely feel I have a certain duty to record and disseminate the information I discover.
Cheers
Guy
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Lovely sentiments and thoughts by all.
If I were to use one of those sweet poems, I'd have to add a spicy stanza or two about being the pot-stirring one who persists in uncovering details that my ancestors would probably have wanted kept hidden.
;D
Best regards,
Josephine
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;D ;D ;D...I think my Grandma would have said..."What on earth do you want to go digging up the past for nosey parker...it's where it belongs...in the past" ;D ;D
Carol
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The past is the future though I always say.
I shall never give up on my family tree, I check constantly for new records online, and go to RO's when I can. When I am at a RO I must be the visitor to ask for the most original documents using the application slips with ref numbers given in the indexes lol, as not everything is on microfilm or microfiche. I flick through the indexes for relevant parishes of unions to see the coverage of their poor law records, school records, ratebooks, electoral registers, vaccination records, etc stuff outside of the usual PRs, BMDs and census records.
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Along the lines of Mark's Mexican proverb is this extract from the poem "So Many Different Lengths of Time," by Brian Patten:
"A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us,
For as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams,
For as long as we ourselves live,
Holding memories in common,
A man lives."
It's nice to think that by doing what we do, we pass the torch on to the next generation of "storytellers," while continuing the work of the generation before.
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"A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us,
For as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams,
For as long as we ourselves live,
Holding memories in common,
A man lives."
Now that, I really like :)
Frank.
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I think it pretty much sums up what family tree research is all about.