I am a retired probate lawyer and charity fundraiser. I maintain a website on Jacob Brumbaugh (1726-1799), a German immigrant of 1750 who became a Hagerstown, MD, farmer and distiller and German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) who acquired 3500 acres in 13 farms by the time of his death. I have also authored a book on the American Revolution entitled "Prisoners of Congress: Philadelphia's Quakers in Exile, 1777-78" (Penn State Univ Press, 2023).

WE ARE THE CHOSEN

My feelings are in each family we are 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 who have gone before.

We are the story tellers of the tribe.
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 times have I told the ancestors
you have a wonderful family, you would be proud of us?

It goes beyond just documenting facts.
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 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.

[Adapted from a poem by Della M. Cumming ca 1943.]

"Walking. I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands."
Anonymous

I am a retired probate lawyer and charity fundraiser. I maintain a website on Jacob Brumbaugh (1726-1799), a German immigrant of 1750 who became a Hagerstown, MD, farmer and distiller and German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) who acquired 3500 acres in 13 farms by the time of his death. I have also authored a book on the American Revolution entitled "Prisoners of Congress: Philadelphia's Quakers in Exile, 1777-78" (Penn State Univ Press, 2023).

WE ARE THE CHOSEN

My feelings are in each family we are 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 who have gone before.

We are the story tellers of the tribe.
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 times have I told the ancestors
you have a wonderful family, you would be proud of us?

It goes beyond just documenting facts.
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 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.

[Adapted from a poem by Della M. Cumming ca 1943.]

"Walking. I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands."
Anonymous