“Some family trees have beautiful leaves,
but some just have a bunch of nuts.
Remember it is the nuts that make the tree worth shaking.”

~ Unknown ~

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These pages are dedicated to all those who have gone before us and paved the way for us to be where we are today. Our ancestors truly are a part of us and who we are.

Searching for my roots has brought much enjoyment into my life. I’ve especially enjoyed meeting relatives that I didn’t even know we had.

Genealogy is something that I’ve always taken seriously because if it wasn’t for our ancestors we would not be here today. I want to educate myself and my family to the best of my ability about our history and PROUD heritage. I want to present our ancestors as “real” people by placing some of the “Flesh” back on their “Bones.” I want my children to know that those two people whose names and dates appeared on a piece of paper were “Real” people.

I’ve been trying to learn more about the history of different periods of time to better understand their personal histories. I want to know more about the things that hurt them and the things that gave them pleasure.

Although wars, fashions and customs change, some things are eternal…love, pride in children, devotion to country, sadness at the death of loved ones and joy at the success of a crop or a new job. I have discovered that deeds can sometimes tell us of their financial histories. Church records can tell us for whom they mourned or celebrated. Court records can tell us how well they got along with their neighbors or civil authorities.

My heart cries for them when I think about some of the enormous pain they must have felt and had to endure during their lifetimes. I think how terrible it must have felt to leave their parents behind who knew they’d never see their children again or have a share in their grandchildren’s lives and fate.

I can only imagine the pain they must have felt when they left their settled homelands and moved to a new land where many dangers faced them and their children. “Back home” was seething with wars and rumors of wars. We can only imagine the fear and worry they felt for their families and friends back home.

They must have also had many fears for their children in the new land as well. There were so many deaths of newborns and young children. Too many mothers died during childbirth. There was so much sickness and disease because of the lack of proper medical care.

We have no idea of the unremitting labor it took for the first settlers to just survive. What did they do to survive? Unless they were wealthy and could have certain goods shipped over here, they had to do without or make it themselves. What did they do for fun? Go to church, sing, dance (if religion permitted it), tell stories, visit, and make descendants.

I truly love all my ancestors, even those whose names I don’t know. I want to allow them to rise from their anonymous mists to become “flesh” once again, to give them the due honor they deserve.

I truly hope that you too, get the “Genealogy Bug”…it is very satisfying to learn about your ancestors, since without them, you would not be where you are today!!!

To end with a bit of Genealogy Humor….
“There once was a man who paid a genealogist $500.00 to look up his family history … then paid another $1,000.00 to keep quiet about it!”

Good Luck in your family research adventures and remember, “Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.”

Until next time,

Kevin Agan