Genealogy is the grandfather who rode with a lynch mob because his wife said if he didn't go, she would. The vigilantes broke a man out of jail and hanged him for the rape and murder of a girl on her way to Sunday school. Genealogy is the drama of ordinary people doing ordinary and extraordinary things. It's the story of our ancestors and living relatives. Just like history at school, dates are important.
Vital statistics delineate our lives.
Birth dates, marriage dates, death dates, all are important, but they merely identify. They are the skeletons of our heritage. Genealogists avidly pursue these dates, but vital statistics are but a bare beginning. Stories about lives lived are the flesh on bone that transform our ancestors from mere skeletons into people with whom we can identify, and who can influence our lives. When that happens, I'm always glad.