Every family has a "Griot" or "Storyteller", one who lovingly maintains their family's genealogy; be it through oral history, antique photographs or other recordkeeping. My grandfather Stanley was our griot. He and I always had pleasant visits with one another over the years. He often threw out "old sayings" & recounted stories of his life and those passed down to him.
"What was the purpose of sharing those stories with me?"
I'd never really taken much interest in genealogy prior to that, and other than knowing a few of his siblings, my aunts, my uncles & cousins; I knew absolutely nothing about the extended lines. Yet he made a point of retelling the same stories over & over again.
It wasn't until several months after his death in 2003 that I found myself unemployed and questioning my purpose. One day I decided to take a break from the online job search; I'm still not sure why I chose to buy a subscription to http://www.ancestry.com/ that day, but I'm glad I did. I started an online tree using the records from their enormous database. I logged on that morning and didn't log off until 1 a.m. the next morning!
My research evolved from there into soliciting interviews with family members, making visits to genealogy libraries & court archive rooms throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, I visited historical landmarks, churches and graveyards as well as interviewed professional historians/researchers & local historians familiar with the histories of entire communities.
In the years following my grandfather's death, I was able to validate many of his stories and in the process uncovered many secrets & unknown facts about our existence, much to the chagrin of family members.
I not only found my passion but I now have a renewed purpose in my outlook on life, & in my career as a writer & self-published author of historical works. It has truly been a blessing in so many ways.
I now understand why "Daddy" kept repeating those stories; he realized out of all of his children and grandchildren, that I was the only one willing to "LISTEN" for extended periods of time. He also knew that I inherited many of his traits: his love of family & community, his patience & fierce activism.. just to name a few. Daddy knew based on my character that I would eventually pick up the baton and carry the family legacy forward for later generations; and I'm thankful to God I did.
My question is "Will you do the same?"
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