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 facts 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. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. I have lost count. I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts.