Genealogy

According to the dictionary genealogy is:
1. A record or account of the descent of a family, group or person from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.
2. Direct descent from a progenitor; lineage or pedigree.
3. The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.

To me, however, genealogy is a whole lot more than those three dry sentences. It is finding my roots, my family, and my home.

It is seeing my grandparents as a young couple in a census record with their two baby girls; children who I know will be dead within the year. It is seeing my mother as a one-month-old child. It is seeing my great grandfather's signature on Civil War records and knowing that he and others like him must have gone through hell.

It is even finding the skeletons in the closets or the black sheep of the family. It is finding that my family went through some terrible times, but also knowing that they survived. It is seeing in my mind's eye the careworn faces of all of those who have gone on before me. It is listening to old stories told by our elders and passing those precious stories down. It is writing down those stories and facts for our children and their children. It is finding cousins I had not seen or heard from in fifty years. It is finding new cousins and new friends, people who have come to mean so very much to me. It is the realization of how important family is. It is the realization of how important it is to honor those ancestors who came before us.

That is a little of what genealogy means to me.
(author unknown)