My mother

made a comment to me last weekend that sort of stung. We

were returning from a seminar on genealogy held at the

LDS Church in Peachtree City. Somehow, the subject got

around to my column and she said, "You don't ever

write anything yourself anymore. All you do is quote what

somebody else says."

Well, Mom,

that was the purpose of this column. There are many

things in the church newsletters that aren't exactly

news, but deserve to be repeated. It also demonstrates

the talents of our local ministers. So that's what I do

here. Give you mini-sermons or pious little

tongue-in-cheek chuckles each week.

But, what

the heck? For you, Mom, I'll write. And, since this is

Black History Month, the celebration of African-American

heritage, I thought I'd write about heritage...everyone's

heritage.

Within the

last few months, I have become a genealogy fanatic. The

spark was born many years ago when I lived in Salt Lake

City and became aware of the Mormons' genealogy quests.

While theirs is rooted in religious beliefs, for me it

was just fun to discover who my ancestors were.

Then, a few

years ago I received something which has become pure gold

to me-a book written by a distant cousin which

details my family history back to an honest-to-gosh

famous person. He's even in the encyclopedia. Yeah! How

`bout that? I buried myself in charts and time lines and

pedigree forms and marveled at the number of people who

had to be born to make me who I am. I traveled to Alabama

and took photos of cemetery markers. I read history

books.

And then

came the internet. I can literally sit for four and five

hours at a time going through databases searching for one

elusive relative. I have left messages in many different

genealogy forums. I have heard from many people who share

my passion. I have met cousins in far away places I

didn't even know I had.

At the

genealogy seminar in Peachtree City last Sunday, a

demonstration was given on the LDS church's genealogy

website, Familysearch.com. I didn't even know it existed

and, the best part is, the services and databases are

absolutely free.

According

to their spokesperson for the evening (I think her name

was Marie Keillor...forgive me Marie. I wasn't there as a

reporter...I didn't take notes on peoples' names.), the

site has only been up and running for a little over a

year and they're still getting the kinks out of it.

There's even a "feedback" feature so you can

tell them what you think they need to do to improve the

site. I couldn't wait to get home and log on.

To make a

long story short, I went to bed well past 2 a.m. but not

until I had found two ancestors who had eluded me in

other "for pay" database systems. Pretty good,

huh? I also found out I am only 10 minutes away from the

LDS Family History Center in Newnan. It was a very

profitable evening, to say the least.

I guess

what I'm trying to say here is that we should all

celebrate our heritage-no matter what our color or

religious beliefs. It is fascinating and eye-opening to

think about the times our ancestors lived in, the

hardships they endured, the heartbreaks they suffered.

Pardon me, I'm having a senior moment here, but who was

it who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are

condemned to repeat it"? (A co-worker just told me

it was George Santayana.) How true, how true. So,

celebrate your heritage proudly this month...and every

month. Let's not be doomed to more centuries of mistakes.

Until next

time...keep the faith.

(How was

that, Mom?)

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