COUSINS,FRIENDS AND KINDRED SPIRI
It has
always been my belief that God or a higher spirit puts different people in our
paths at different times of our life and for many different reasons. People are
placed on our path to walk the road of life with us, sometimes for a short
while, and sometimes for a lifetime.
Genealogy has heightened this belief for me.
I began
to search for my family roots exactly three years ago. My husband gave me a
laptop computer for Easter three years ago and with the computer, there was a
disk for creating your family tree.
I knew
virtually nothing about my ancestors that shared the same surname and there
wasn’t any living person to ask about my heritage.
My
curiosity about my ancestors got the best of me and I ran a search on the web
for genealogy websites.
information about
my relatives and almost immediately I received an answer back that someone who
was related to me had a complete family tree on my ancestors. “Wow, this
genealogy thing is gonna be
really easy,” I
thought to myself. Of course, all of you reading this are laughing to
yourselves, as you know it wasn’t long before “SPLA
I soon
found out that the man that answered the query about my ancestors was a third
cousin. We swapped family stories, phone numbers, and email as well as regular
addresses. We promised to keep each other abreast of any and all developments
in our mutual search for our family roots. It was almost like there was some
type of magnetic force we had stumbled upon, because within eleven days another
“cousin” answered my query. Oddly enough, this “cousin” lives only 20 miles
from the third cousin I had
just encountered
eleven days previously. Neither gentleman knew of one another’s existence.
Within a very short period, the three of us joined forces in our search. We
combined efforts and
swapped Bible
pages, pictures, birth and death certificates and family stories. Both of my
newfound “cousins” were in the military and we all were in awe when we found
out that our 2nd great grand uncle was killed in battle during the
Civil War. His body was never recovered and there was never even a marker to
commemorate that he had served and died for his country. One of my proudest
accomplishments is that I was able to get a Civil War marker placed next to his
mother’s headstone. I
filled out an
application with the Veteran’s Affairs and now the world can see that our
relative was a Sergeant, served in the Civil War, and was killed in battled.
One hundred and forty years after his death
he is now at peace.
In the
three years I have been doing my research, my database has grown to nearly
1,300 relatives. I have had “cousins” from all over
research their
“line” with me. I have put branches of my husband’s family in touch with each
other also.
very best friends
is the town Historian of the town most of my ancestors hail from. She not only
connected me with my ancestors but she and I connected in a very special way.
Somebody or some force definitely threw our lives together and enriched them
for the better.
I
waited two and a half years to contact one of my first cousins to ask her for
her family’s information for my database.
support in the last
few months. I met her grown daughter for the first time four months ago and
strangely
enough she and I
have formed a strong bond and become inseparable.
One of
my initial genealogy contacts was the second “cousin” that answered my query on
the genealogy
board. Once our
initial contact was made, we have been in contact on a daily basis. If we do
not email each other back and forth at least three times a day, we will call
each other long distance. We are both spooked by our relationship because there
was an immediate connection as if we had known each other not only our whole
lives but in other lifetimes as well. In three years, we have become best
friends,
confidantes and
kindred spirits. We have seen each other through illness, deaths, and
disappointments and we will always be there for each other.
my home. In the
last few months, he and I have been able to collaborate and get back to the
1700’s on our main family line.
I
believe that everything happens in life for a reason. My husband was meant to
give me this computer with the family tree maker disk. I was meant to do my
genealogy. I was destined to be my family’s
“S
of weaving our
family’s tapestry together. I have been able to bring comfort to a few people,
I have been
able to bring
families together, I have become the family’s peacemaker and been able to
settle a 25 yr. old family feud. Genealogy has enriched my life and the lives
of my family. We all now feel connected and have a real sense of “family” and
our roots.