Friday, September 26, 2014

What is your ancestry?

Embrace the past, empower the present, enrich the future. You are not an isolated individual but a thread binding together with countless other threads to create a rich and colorful tapestry of life. From the far reaches of America’s past, we can all, in some way or another, connect to someone who set foot upon America’s soil looking for a land of promise. It is through laughter and tears that the yesterdays of centuries past paved the way for today’s future. (Source: Awakenings from Then 'til Now)

September 27 is...

Ancestor Appreciation Day

The lives and times of our ancestors are often obscure when it comes to understanding from whence we came. The impact they have on us today is embedded in long forgotten traditions and links between generations. Habits, traditions and values alive today just did not occur overnight. They evolved through the course of time being passed forward from one generation to the next.


Can you fill in the missing blanks of your ancestry? Each person should complete the picture of relatives and their history, which will promote a greater appreciation for life, thereby forming a better understanding of the individual journey a family has endured.

With the celebration of Ancestry Appreciation Day, there is a chance to take time out of your busy schedule to gather new insight into those who came before you—the chance to reflect on your ancestors, learn more about them and the ways in which they influenced each life before that knowledge fades away. In other words, your ancestral history slips away with each passing generation if you do not take the time to listen and learn from those that came before you.

http://dailylounge.com/the-daily/entry/study-finds-roma-gypsies-carry-indian-bloodline

What is your bloodline?

Did someone in your ancestry sail across the ocean on the Mayflower or move overland during times of Western expansion? Anyone in your ancestry a gunslinger? Perhaps the other end of the spectrum, an Indian chief? Are you a relative of Jesse James? Do letters or diaries of the Civil War bear family connections with stories of pain and suffering? Did a family member serve his/her country in WWI or WWII? Gulf War? Vietnam? Is there record somewhere of a relative traveling as a passenger on the Titanic? Are you of French, Italian, Irish descent? The questions are endless but the results are the same: They define you.

How much do you know of your ancestry? Spend this day with relatives, especially the aged. Ask a LOT of questions, listen to their stories and learn about previous generations whose roles in life made you what you are today. Learning about your past can be used to preserve such history in written, recorded or video form. Don't delay for once the memories fade the knowledge is gone...forever.