I think there exists in most people a desire to know who and why they are, and where they fit on that beautiful, messy, encompassing, troublesome tree called family.
After a recent newspaper article that spoke of heritage and homesteads with a name that certainly had a branch on our family tree, our daughter Mary Ellen and I set out to explore the whispered, never discussed mystery of one of those branches.
Mary Ellen and I cornered every one we could talk to at a celebration by that family, and got a few more statistics that fit the few facts we had already found.
There was talk of illegitimacy, American Indian blood lines, broken relationships, and all those things that no one dared talk about. Still that branch was on our tree!! The shame and hurts, long dismissed by succeeding generations, are today, a part of our history. Adding color to a somewhat stiff, proper lineage, we can look back with sympathy and acceptance for what they endured.
It was a rewarding time that Mary Ellen and I spent looking at our tree. We both were made more aware that we can’t just prune a branch when we look back. We just accept, with a loving heart, both the healthy and withered branches and hope our descendants will do the same.
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