Welcome to my
family research site-
This site is devoted to my quest for family history. You'll find many
surnames, covering many different locations. I've tried to include as
much information as possible. But please be aware that not all of the
information on this site has been proven or documented by me. Remember
"undocumented genealogy is mythology".
My Direct Ancestors
My
Complete Family Listing
My Brick Walls
My Old Family Photos
The Story Tellers....
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. 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 graves have I stood before now and
cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you
have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have
I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me?
I cannot say.
It goes beyond just
documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I
do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and
indifference and saying I can't let this happen. 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 the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation.
It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it
for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to
give us birth, without them we could not exist, and so we love each
one, as far back as we can reach.
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 they and they
are the sum of who we are. 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 my place in the long line of family storytellers.
In Loving Memory of
Dorothy Marie (Johnson) Chapman
Sept 1925 - Sept 1995
-You are my inspiration-