General Chat

Hi
The other day I read these words that made me think about all of the people in our Family Trees that we research, wanting to know all about their lives, their jobs , their children..everything ..It really touch a cord ... I hope you don't mind me posting it.

The Poetry of History lies in the Quasi-miraculous fact that

"Once on this earth,
Once on this familiar spot of ground,
Walked other men and women,
As actual as we are today.
Swayed by their own passions,
But now all gone.
One generation vanishing into another,
The dead were and are not
Their place knows them no more
And is ours today,
Yet they were once as real as we.
And we shall tomorrow be shadows like them.

:-)

Thanks for posting that. It makes you think :-)

Thanks, Valerie. It certainly does make you think.

I came across this one somewhere - it could have been on Genes but I can't be sure.

It is a quote about family history researchers and as I have written 'Irish History' next to it, it may well be from an Irish genealogy site.

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 seem alive 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.


I think your Poetry of History is even better.

I follow several generations in this village and it kind of touches me that they have all seen some of the same trees as I can see.

Valerie, that poem is lovely <3

yes it is,, so glad that you liked it

Thank you Valerie and JoyLouise - I thought they were both so lovely that I've copied them out to put in the front of my main Fam. History file. Perhaps they'll help my family to understand my obsession when they inherit all my books and files.