We Are The Chosen

There is a genealogy poem that tugs on all genealogist's heartstrings. When you first read it, you will immediately feel a connection to the words.  I thought it was unique to the website where I first saw it but have since done some research as to its origin. I believe that it was written by Della M. Cumming. Somewhere along the way it was edited and reworded by Tom Dunn. Some refer to the poem titled "The Storytellers." Either way, it deserves to be passed along to those of you who have spent countless hours documenting family history.

The Story Tellers.....We are the chosen.

My feelings are 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. To me,
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 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 they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It
goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. 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 them and they are us. 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 their place in the long line of family storytellers.

That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young
and old to step up and put flesh on the bones.

(Tom Dunn, Author)

Most likely taken from a poem by Della M. Cumming