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 story tellers of the tribe.
All tribes have one.
In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. I have lost count. I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen.