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Friday's Journal
Morning on
Cape Cod
I've been spending some quality time with my 8-g-grandparents recently.  In the
last two weeks, I've read six different histories of Plymouth, Duxbury and Marshfield,
Massachusetts in the 1600's.  Years ago, when I first discovered that my
8-g-grandfather, Edward Doty, was a passenger on the
Mayflower, I read several
books about the Plymouth Colony.  But this time, I was on a quest.
Edward Doty is buried in the old Pilgrim burial ground in Plymouth.  But I'd never
learned where my 8-g-grandmother, Faith, was buried.  Also, I knew she'd remarried
and moved to a neighboring community after Edward's death, but I wanted to learn the
exact location of her second husband's property.  (Edward Doty's property in the
Duxbury community is well-known and there's a plaque there to commemorate it.)
I'm glad to report that I found Faith Clarke Doty Phillips' final resting place - in the old
Winslow Burying Ground in Marshfield - and the location of John Phillips' property, as
well.  Reaching the goal of my search was satisfying, but, in the way of most such
excursions, the journey was the best part.  I found some lovely old books, written in
the flowery style of the time, complete with many fascinating historical bits and pieces
generally unknown - or, for the most part, unremembered - today.  
By the time I was finished, I wanted to close my eyes and click my heels, like Dorothy
in the "Wizard of Oz," and be transported to my 8 g-grandparents' homes along the
Massachusetts coast.  I tried that, but, unfortunately, when I opened my eyes, I wasn't
any closer to Massachusetts than I'd been the minute before.
:-)  So I did the next best
thing and went on a virtual visit.
The images on this page are the result.  -- Nancy
The photos on this page are from the areas surrounding Cape Cod Bay and along the
Massachusetts coast, specifically, the communities of Plymouth, Duxbury, Marshfield,
Nantucket, Provincetown, Chatham, Scituate, Rockport, Sandwich and Cohasset.
A man finds room in a few square inches of his face for the traits of all his
ancestors and for the expression of all his history.
 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are all omnibuses in which our ancestors ride, and every now and then one
of them sticks his head out and embarrasses us.  
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Chosen

My feelings are, that in each family, one is called to find the ancestors,
To put flesh on their bones and make them live again - to tell the family story.
To me, 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.
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.
And, in finding them, we somehow find ourselves.
It goes beyond just documenting facts.
It goes to who I am and why I do the things I do.
It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to indifference
And saying I can't let this happen.
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 up,
Their resoluteness to go on and build lives for their families.
It goes to an understanding that they were doing it for the future - for us,
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 them and they are us.
So, as scribes called, we tell the story of our families.
It will be up to the ones called in the next generation to answer the call
And take their places in the long line of family storytellers.

-- Author Unknown
Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.  -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our history begins before we are born, because our ancestors live in us.
-- James Nasmyth
We must strive to become good ancestors.  -- Ralph Nader
In all of us there is a hunger to know our heritage - to know who we are and where
we came from.  Without this enriching knowledge - no matter what our attainments
in life - there is an emptiness and a most disquieting loneliness.  
-- Alex Haley