Remembering

 

With this weekend's holiday designation, our nation turns their attention to remembering. Officially, the focus is on those military personnel who sacrificed their life in service to their country. In addition, though, I can't help but remember many ancestors, whether in military service or not. I've turned this into a family history weekend, remembering several of the ancestors I've researched over the years. Judging from several genealogy-related sales this holiday weekend, I am not alone in such thoughts.

This happens to again be the day for my biweekly count to check my research progress—especially for purposes of connecting my family's many DNA cousins to their place on my tree. As always, the branch of my tree where my research goal focuses my attention is the one which gains the most. It's no surprise, then, to see that my mother-in-law's tree jumped by 291 individuals to a total of 32,311 people in the past two weeks of research. Granted, absolutely nothing was added to the other side of my family tree, but that is not my research focus for this month.

However, with the recent contact from an Ancestry.com subscriber researching another of my family's lines, the last few days had me reviewing the stories of people I hadn't thought of for years. The memories evoked in this review made me realize I've been on a memorial journey of my own.

As I look back through the names, dates, and stories discovered on this tree, the process prompts memories of what I've learned through years of research. Though not everyone I've researched was military personnel, several were—from colonial wars through Revolutionary service, to War of 1812, to Civil War and more recent conflicts. Knowing that inspires gratitude for what those previous generations of relatives had done. Perhaps it's helpful to take time for such memories. Does it draw us closer to our ancestors?