So writing a blog of family history is challenging. I have read many award-winning monographs and articles written by professional genealogists, as well as book length biographies. They are amazing in their attention to detail, understanding of the historical and cultural context of the times, and truly represent detective work that would make Sherlock Holmes sit up and give note.
Maybe someday in my twilight years when the family documents have been catalogued and mined for their secrets, and when we have the opportunity to travel and visit the ancestral homes, then we will sit down to create the quintessential family history book or series of monographs on the family.
Until then, I still want to share the stories that we discover with the family along the way (my sister is a part of this journey also, though she may yet be a silent "blogger"). Our hope is that one of our children or grandchildren or great grandchildren will catch the genealogy bug and carry on our work after we are gone. We also want our family to know the richness of the lives of our ancestors, their bravery and wisdom, their failings and sorrows, and most of all their faith that carried them through!
This means that we will share stories of the individuals for specific places and times, and they will be incomplete. And there will be more questions generated than questions answered. We think that is a good thing as that will keep you coming back to read more, and keep us researching to find the answers!
You are a Contributor to this Blog
This cannot be a one-sided story. Family members and non-family members must help write the stories, as we all have perspective that contributes to filling out the picture about the lives of those arounds us.
If you are a family member, or even distant cousin, then you have heard a story or remember a snip-it about a time when ..... Please feel free to contribute those rememberances.
If you are not a family member but have research or information about a time and a place that intersects our history, please contribute!
All contributions should be emailed to: jennycoss@gmail.com.
I will take on the responsibility of editing and posting to the appropriate page.
The Why
Why should we preserve family history to be told to the generations to come? It is actually a God-commanded thing to do, that we tell the stories of the wonderous things he has done!
Deuteronomy 11:18-20
King James Version (KJV)
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates
