FYI FOR NEW MEMBERS: when signing up please allow 24-48 hours for access to the Genealogy Pages. You will be able to access all other areas of Shared Ancestors immediately after joining.
06/25/2009 - Work has started on a blog for members - stay tuned! A software update has just been completed on the Genealogy Pages section. New content has been added - check it out as there are some interesting articles. An ENCYCLOPEDIA for Genealogy has been started and additions to it will be made as time allows. Please send any suggestions, additional material, etc to the site admin - we will be happy to credit you with the submission!
05/04/2009 - New WAR albums added. Added some more photos to the Elmer E. Hayes WWII Collection album - thanks to Chris Hayes for providing these photos from her father's collection.
NEW MEMBERS - You can upload your own GEDCOM file, photos, documents, etc - the web space is free for you to use. This is done by entering the "GENEALOGY PAGES" located on the front page in the lower middle section. You can also add your own albums to the GeneAlbum.
NOTE: Your GEDCOM/FAMILY TREE CAN BE ANY SURNAME/ANCESTRY! If you have difficulties then please contact either myself or Lexie - we will be glad to assist you. Please also check out the forums and individual blogs.
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.
Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers 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 now 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 the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth. Without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. 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 they and they are the sum of who we are. 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 my 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 restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before.
This site was created for YOU, the genealogy enthusiast and researcher. Members will find a friendly place to exchange information, post a query to the forum, chat with other members, create webpages, upload family trees and photos, and much more.
Shared Ancestors is a work in progress and our database will continue to grow as more documents and source materials are added. We cordially invite you to share your ancestors and come grow with us by joining our community today!
