I would like to welcome everyone and urge you to contibute as much information  as possible for our family site.  E-mail me with any information, or  corrections, you would like added and I'll make sure it's included.

I started doing Our Trees so that I could help preserve our family history for  Bobby, Misty and Billy. That was quite a few years ago. Since then I have  found relatives in California and as far away as Austrailia. These relatives  have provided a lot of insite and help in opening new doors that I was unable  to find. I have also reconnected with relatives that I have not seen in decades.  There is no feeling that can surpass what is felt when you finally hug that person after so many years.

I want to extend my utmost gratitude to Robert Thomas who lives in California.  His unlimited knowledge in the area of Geneology has helped further my quest  on more than one occasion and he still keeps the information coming.

Again, welcome to OUR website. Let's travel back into history together and  visit with those who came before us.

Love to all,

Mary Ann

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We are the chosen. 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 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 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. (unknown author){contibuted by Zdzslaw A. Derwinski} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~