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About Tracey Devonne Cockerham DeLitta Tousley
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COCKERHAM FAMILY REUNION 2006
  4-H BUILDING   PETERSBURG, INDIANA
 AUGUST 12, 2006
 NOON - NIGHT
 BRING A COVERED DISH TO SHARE AND FAMILY PHOTOS
 HOST: ZOLA COCKERHAM CLARK 812-743-2621 FOR MORE INFO
 ANY AND ALL COCKERHAMS WELCOME!!   PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!



WELCOME to my family web  site.  This web site includes genealogy information  and adtopted family information just the same. I was born in Tampa Florida. I  now live in Dallas, Texas. I have a huge wonderful family all over the USA.

I hope you enjoy learning more about my family and it`s history. 

Don`t forget to look at the pictures. If you have photos or information to add  or correct, please contact me by email at scoutingmrst@yahoo.com or  genealogyt@gmail.com OR feel free to write me at Tracey Tousley, P. O. Box  1627, Rockwall, Texas 75087.

My number is 469-583-5543. I LOVE to hear from all family and I would really  love to have more pictures. Please send pictures in any form. I will post them  as soon as possible.

Also, if anyone has letters, war documents or anything to add, please contact  me.

All information is correct as far as I know. If you have corrections or  additions to make, please contact me asap so that all information an be as  accuarate as possible. Many family members have contributed to this  information. I have tried to keep it as factual as possible.

PLEASE DON`T FORGET TO SIGN MY GUEST BOOK !!                 
                               Tracey Devonne Cockerham DeLitta Tousley

P.S. With Cockerhams all over the place in my tree, people ask how exactly am  I 
 related to myself. Here is an explanation:
  
 Fathers Side    
 Tracey Cockerham ? Tracey Cockerhams  4th cousin once removed

Jerry Cockerham - Tracey Cockerhams 4th cousin and father

Russell Cockerham - Rita Burkharts 3rd cousin, Tracey Cockerhams grandfather

Cyrus E Cockerham -Jessie Cockerhams 2nd cousin, Tracey Cockerhams Ggrandfather

James `Bay` Cockerham - Peter Cockerhams  1st cousin Tracey Cockerhams GG  grandfather

John Lemuel Cockerham  - Gilliam Clark Cockerhams  brother, Tracey Cockerhams  GGG grandfather

William D Cockerham  _ Tracey Cockerhams GGGG grandfather
  
 Mothers side
 Tracey Cockerham  - Jerry Cockerhams 4th cousin and daughter

Rita Burkhart -  Russell Cockerhams 3rd cousin, Tracey Cockerhams mother

Jessie Cockerham  - Cyrus E Cockerhams 2nd Cousin, Tracey Cockerhams  grandmother

Peter Cockerham   -  James Bay Cockerhams 1st cousin, Tracey Cockerhams G  grandfather

Gilliam  Clark Cockerham    - John Lemuel Cockerhams brother, Tracey  Cockerhams 
 GG grandfather

William D Cockerham - Tracey Cockerhams GGG grandfather  

Here is something about my maiden name.....

About the name COCKERHAM: 

They themselves knew not how old they were, but they could remember very well that there had been many more; that they were of a family from foreign lands, and that for them and theirs the whole city had been built. They had never been outside it, but they knew that there were more of their kind in the world, which was called Cockerham.

Modified text originally written by Hans Christian Andersen.

Cockerham Book for sale ~ Kenneth Cockerham of Seymour Indiana, has a book for  sale. This book traces the descendants of William Cockerham from NC 1700s to  present day descendants all over the US. His email is kcockerham@seidata.com

2005 COCKERHAM REUNION~
 The Cockerham reunion was August 6, 2005 at Hornaday Park in Petersburg. All  family members were the descendants of William D Cockerham who settled in  Southern Indiana along the White River many years ago.

We had a great time with over 100 family members. Some came as far as London  and the Bahamas to enjoy time together with family. Two Cockerham descendants  rode in on Motorcycles. Cousins gathered from Indiana, Georgia, Florida,  Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Tenessee, Arkansas and Kentucky, just to name a few  states.

Kenneth Cockerham opened with prayer and we enjoyed Cockerham " good cookin "  in the form of a pot blessing  dinner. We were entertained by the JOYLANDERS,  a  
 six piece bluegrass / country gospel group. One member is a Cockerham.

Danny Walton spoke with us about the "Priorities of a Boy " which described  his 
 memories as a child attending family reunions. When he was finished speaking,  more than half of the crowd joined him at the slide to watch him slide down on  waxed paper.

Russell Cockerham from Michigan,  proudly showed his COCKERHAM tatoo along  with 
 two other family members.

In Attendance,  were four family genealogists with information to share along  with cousin charts helping everyone to "figure it all out"

Maryann Schuckman, Kenneth Cockerham, Tom Cockerham, Tim Cockerham,  Deanie  Cockerham  and possibly a few others brought old photos to share.

The Cockerham Reunion was a huge success and we all had a great time.  Hope to  see you all again next year.



Cockerham DNA Project Website url is: 
  
 http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cockerham/



The Family Tree of Vincent Van Gogh 
  
 His dizzy aunt -------------------------------------- Verti Gogh   
 The brother who ate prunes ------------------------- Gotta Gogh   
 The brother who worked at a convenience store ----- Stop n Gogh   
 The grandfather from Yugoslavia --------------------- U Gogh   
 The brother who bleached his clothes white ---------- Hue Gogh   
 The cousin from Illinois ----------------------------- Chica Gogh   
 His magician uncle ----------------------------- Where- diddy Gogh   
 His Mexican cousin ------------ A-mee Gogh 
  
 The Mexican cousin's American half-brother -------- Gring Gogh   
 The nephew who drove a stage coach ---Wells- far Gogh 
  
 The constipated uncle -----------!  Can't Gogh 
  
 The ballroom-dancing aunt ------ Tang Gogh 
  
 The bird lover uncle ------------ Flamin Gogh 
  
 His nephew psychoanalyst ------- E Gogh 
  
 The fruit-loving cousin ---------- Man Gogh 
  
 An aunt who taught positive thinking --- Way to Gogh 
  
 The little bouncy nephew --------- Poe Gogh 
  
 A sister who loved disco --------- Go Gogh 
  
 And his niece who travels the country in a van-- .  Winnie Bay Gogh   
 Well, there ya Gogh



 GREAT QUOTES BY GREAT LADIES 

Inside every older lady is a younger lady -- wondering what the                         hell happened.
                     -Cora Harvey Armstrong-
   Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can                usually shut her up with cookies.
  The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.                      -Helen Hayes (at 73)-
   I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them as                         stray eyebrows.
                        -Janette Barber-
   Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.                          -Lily Tomlin-
 A male gynecologist is like an auto mechanic who never owned a                              car.
                          -Carrie Snow-
 Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry with your                          girlfriends.
                       -Laurie Kuslansky-
 My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being,       hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.
                         -Erma Bombeck-
               Old age ain't no place for sissies.
                          -Bette Davis-
 A man's got to do what a man's got to do. A woman must do what                            he can't.
                        -Rhonda Hansome-
            The phrase "working mother" is redundant!
                         -Jane Sellman-
 Every time I close the door on reality, it comes in through the                            windows.
                      -Jennifer Unlimited-
 Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be      thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.
                       -Charlotte Whitton-
 Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your                   body starts falling apart.
                         -Caryn Leschen-
  ***I try to take one day at a time -- but some times several                     days attack me at once.
                      -Jennifer Unlimited-
 **If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be                       a horrible warning.
                           -Catherine-
  When I was young, I was put in a school for retarded kids for  two years before they realized I actually had a hearing loss.                    And they called ME slow!
                         -Kathy Buckley-
  I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know            I'm not dumb -- and I'm also not blonde.
                         -Dolly Parton-
   If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing                              them.
                          -Sue Grafton-
  I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.                         -Roseanne Barr-
  When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men                    invade another country..
                        -Elayne Boosler-
        Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
                        -Maryon Pearson-
 In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want                   anything done, ask a woman.
                       -Margaret Thatcher-
    I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine                     marriage and a career.
                        -Gloria Steinem-
 I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep                           his house.
                           -Zsa Gabor-
   Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.                       -Eleanor Roosevelt-

Life Quotes and Proverbs for your reading enjoyment.....

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.  Laura Ingalls Wilder

The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying  more attention to the organization than to what they're organized for.  Laura Ingalls Wilder

There are two lasting gifts we can give our children.  One is roots, the  other.... wings.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -Robert Frost

 

Doc Childre and Howard Martin, The HeartMath Solution
 Look at life as an energy economy game. Each day, ask yourself, Are my energy  expenditures (actions, reactions, thoughts, and feelings) productive or  nonproductive? During the course of my day, have I accumulated more stress or  more peace?

Robbert Oustin
 Life is like a hot bath. It feels good while you're in it, but the longer you  stay in, the more wrinkled you get.

Doc Childre and Howard Martin, The HeartMath Solution
 When we react to life from the head without joining forces with the heart, it  can lead us into childish, inelegant behavior that we don't respect in  ourselves. If we get the head in sync with the heart first, we have the power  of their teamwork working for us and we can make the changes we know we need  to 
 make.

Unknown
 Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened.

Doc Childre and Howard Martin, The HeartMath Solution
 We've all heard the voice of our heart before, whether we followed it or not.  As we learn more about the heart and find that we can trust its contributions  to our awareness, a new and more rewarding life experience will emerge for  individuals and for society. It's worth considering. After all, a life without  heart just isn't that much fun.

Doc Childre
 With just a little education and practice on how to manage your emotions, you  can move into a new experience of life so rewarding that you will be motivated  to keep on managing your emotional nature in order to sustain it. The payoff  is 
 delicious in terms of improved quality of life.

Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer, From Chaos to Coherence
 An attitude of allowing life and people to be their unpredictable selves,  while 
 maintaining a positive inner attitude that has security either way, can bring  every-increasing rates of success, personally and professionally.

Anonymous prayer
 God, if I can't have what I want, let me want what I have.

Confucius
 Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Price Cobb, American race-car driver, after winning a 1988 race Some days you're the bug. Some days you're the windshield.

Keith Ellis, Bootstraps
 Like the elephant, we are unconscious of our own strength. When it comes to  understanding the power we have to make a difference in our own lives, we  might 
 as well be asleep. If you want to make your dreams come true, wake up. Wake up  to your own strength. Wake up to the role you play in your own destiny. Wake  up 
 to the power you have to choose what you think, do, and say.

Hellen Keller
 Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the  children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the  long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises from 1959-1994
 Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You  name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all  of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If  you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health,  friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be  irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will  never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your  life.

Hannah
 Life is good, without it we'd all be dead.

Lowri Williams
 Your life lies before you like a path of driven snow, be careful how you tread  it cause every step will show.

Mark Twain
 There has been much tragedy in my life; at least half of it actually happend.

Kahlil Gibran, (1883 - 1931) "The Vision"
 Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.

Aaron Antonovsky, Unraveling The Mystery of Health: How People Manage Stress  and Stay Well.
 We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather  as 
 the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e. sense  that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to  function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with  their environment.

Mahatma Gandhi
 My life is my message.

Chinese proverb
 Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time.

Hubert Humphrey
 Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for  others, if not always for ourselves. .

B. C. Forbes
 The be-all and end-all of life should not be to get rich, but to enrich the  world.

Thich Nhat Hanh
 Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with the truth.

Joe E. Lewis
 You only live once - but if you work it right, once is enough.

Albert Einstein
 There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a  miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Maurice Sendak
 There must be more to life than having everything.

Judy Newman
 Hindsight is the "lottery" of life.

Julia Child
 Life itself is the proper binge.

Pericles
 What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is  woven into the lives of others.

Christopher Morley
 There is only one success-to be able to spend your life in your own way.

Morrie Schwartz, in "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep,  even 
 when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because  they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to  devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around  you, 
 and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

N Smith
 When you live in reaction, you give your power away. Then you get to  experience 
 what you gave your power to.

David Searls 
 Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the  ocean.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
 Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself, and know that everything  in 
 this life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are  blessings given to us to learn from.

.Unknown
 The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday  experience

Florida Scott-Maxwell
 Life does not accomodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to, and it couldn't  do it better. Every seed desstroys its container or else there would be no  fruition.

Miguel de Cervantes
 Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and  not as it should be!

Unknown
 Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance.

Samuel Ullman
 Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting  our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the  soul.

Fr. Alfred D'Souza 
 For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin ? real life.  But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through  first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my  life.

George Bernard Shaw 
 Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be  serious when people laugh.

Horace
 In the midst of hopes and cares, of apprehensions and of disquietude, regard  every day that dawns upon you as if it was to be your last; then super-added  hours, to the enjoyment of which you had not looked forward, will prove an  acceptable boon.

A Guide to a Happy Life
 In life you find that one of the most desirable qualities you can find in a  person is flexibility. The ability to change with changing times, to face  adversity with the same attitude one would have in facing victory.

Carl Sandburg
 Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can  determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it  for you.

Indian saying
 When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that  when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

Crowfoot
 What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a  buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass  and loses itself in the sunset.

Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
 Promise yourself to live your life as a revolution and not just a process of  evolution.

Dinah Shore
 Trouble is part of your life ? if you don't share it, you don't give the  person 
 who loves you a chance to love you enough.

Samuel Butler 
 All animals except man know that the ultimate point of life is to enjoy it.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just  persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.

Ashleigh Brilliant
 My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot.

Bugs Bunny 
 Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive.

Mickey Mantle
 If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

Groucho Marx
 The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've  got it made.

Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.

Here is some genealogy humor and poetry!

I started out calmly, tracing my tree,
 To find if I could find the makings of me.
 And all that I had was Great-Grandfather's name,
 Not knowing his wife or from where he came.
 I chased him across a long line of states,
 And came up with pages and pages of dates.
 When all put together, it made me forlorn,
 Proved poor Great-Grandpa had never been born.
 One day I was sure the truth I had found,
 Determined to turn this whole thing upside down.
 I looked up the record of one Uncle John,
 But then I found the old man to be younger than his son.
 Then when my hopes were fast growing dim,
 I came across records that must have been him.
 The facts I collected made me quite sad,
 Dear old Great-Grandfather was never a Dad!
 I think someone is pulling my leg.
 I am not at all sure I wasn't hatched from an egg.
 After hundreds of dollars I've spent on my tree,
 I can't help but wonder if I'm really me...

Her`s something interesting~
 Life in the 1500`s:
   
 Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and  were still 
 smelling pretty good by June.  However, they were starting to smell, so brides  carried a 
 bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.
   
 Baths equalled a big tub filled with hot water.  The man of the house had the  privilege of 
 the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and  finally the 
 children.  Last of all the babies.  By then the water was so dirty you could  actually loose 
 someone in it.  Hence the  saying,  `Don`t throw the baby out with the bath  water`.
   
 Houses had thatched roofs.  Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath.  It was the 
 only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets... dogs, cats and other  small animals, 
 mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof.  When it rained it became slippery and  sometimes the 
 animals would slip and fall off the roof.  Hence the saying, `It`s raining  cats 
 and dogs.`
   
 There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a  real 
 problem in 
 the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice  clean 
 bed.  So, 
 they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it  addressed 
 that problem.  Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.   
 The floor was dirt.  Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.  Hence  the 
 saying 
 `dirt poor`.  
  
 The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet.  So they 
 spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing.  As the winter wore on  they kept 
 adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping  outside.  
 A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a  `thresh hold`.   
 They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.   Every day 
 they lit the fire and added things to the pot.  They mostly ate vegetables and  didn`t get 
 much meat.  They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to  get cold 
 overnight and then start over the next day.  Sometimes the stew had food in it  that had 
 been in there for a month.  Hence the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge  cold, peas 
 porridge in the pot nine days old.`
    
 Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that  happened. When 
 company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it  off.  
 It was a 
 sign of wealth and that a man `could really bring home the bacon.`   
 They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around  and `chew the fat.`
   
 Those with money had plates made of pewter.  Food with a high acid content  caused some of 
 the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so  they stopped 
 eating tomatoes... for 400 years.
   
 Most people didn`t have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood  with 
 the middle 
 scooped out like a bowl.  Trencher were never washed and a lot of times worms  got into the 
 wood.  After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get `trench mouth.`   
 Bread was divided according to status.  Workers got the burnt bottom of the  loaf, the 
 family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the `upper crust`.   
 Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey.  The combination would sometimes  knock them 
 out for a couple of days.  Someone walking along the road would take them for  dead and 
 prepare them for burial.  They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple  of days and 
 the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they  would 
 wake up. 
 Hence the custom of holding a `wake`.
   
 England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury  people.  So, they 
 would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and re-use the  grave.  In 
 reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch  marks 
 on the 
 inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.  So they thought  they would 
 tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the  ground and 
 tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to  listen for 
 the bell.  Hence on the `graveyard shift` they would know that someone  was `saved by the 
 bell` or he was a `dead ringer`.

~Shelley Green

Some genealogy humor~ 

My family coat of arms ties at the back ... is that normal?  My family tree is a few branches short! All help appreciated My ancestors must be in a witness protection program!
 Help!! My family tree does not branch! 
 Shake your family tree and watch the nuts fall! 
 My hobby is genealogy, I raise dust bunnies as pets.
 How can one ancestor cause so much TROUBLE?! 
 I looked into my family tree and found out I was a sap. 
 I`m not stuck, I`m ancestrally challenged. 
 I`m searching for myself; have you seen me? 
 If only people came with pull-down menus and on-line help ...  Isn`t genealogy fun? 
 The answer to one problem leads to two more! 
 It`s 2004 ... do you know where your G-G-Grandparents are? 
 A family reunion is an effective form of birth control. 
 A family tree can wither if nobody tends it`s roots. 
 A new cousin a day keeps the boredom away. 
 After 30 days unclaimed ancestors will be adopted.
 Am I the only person up my tree ... sure seems like it. 
 Any family tree produces some lemons, some nuts, and a few bad apples. Ever find an ancestor HANGING from the family tree? 
 FLOOR: The place for storing your priceless genealogy records.  Gene-Allergy: It`s a contagious disease but I love it. 
 Genealogists are time unravelers. 
 Genealogy is like playing hide and seek: They hide ... I seek!  Genealogy: Tracing yourself back to better people. 
 `Crazy` is a relative term in my family. 
 A pack rat is hard to live with but makes a fine ancestor. 
 I want to find ALL of them! So far I only have a few thousand.  I should have asked them BEFORE they died! 
 I think my ancestors had several `bad heir` days. 
 I`m always late. My ancestors arrived on the JUNEflower. 
 Only a Genealogist regards a step backwards, as progress.  
 Heredity: Everyone believes in it until their children act like fools!  It`s an unusual family that hath neither a lady of the evening or a thief.  Many a family tree needs pruning. 
 Shhh! Be very, very quiet ... I`m hunting forebears. 
 Snobs talk as if they had begotten their own ancestors! 
 That`s strange: half my ancestors are WOMEN! 
 I`m not sick, I`ve just got fading genes. 
 Genealogists live in the past lane. 
 Cousins marrying cousins: Very tangled roots!
 Cousins marrying cousins: A non-branching family tree 
 Alright! Everybody out of the gene pool! 
 Always willing to share my ignorance ... 
 Genealogy: Chasing your own tale! 
 Genealogy ... will I ever find time to mow the lawn again? 
 That`s the problem with the gene pool: NO Lifeguards 
 I researched my family tree ... and apparently I don`t exist!   Can a first cousin, once removed, return? 
 Cemetery: A marble orchard not to be taken for granite. 
 Genealogy: It`s all relative in the end anyway. 
 I trace my family history so I will know who to blame. 
 It`s hard to be humble with ancestors like mine! 
 Life takes it`s toll. Have exact change ready! 
 Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery! 
 Do I even WANT ancestors? Some I found I wish I could lose.  Friends come and go, but relatives tend to accumulate. 
 Genealogists never die, they just lose their roots. 
 Genealogy: A hay stack full of needles. It`s the threads I need.  Genealogy: Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living.  I think my family tree is a few branches short of full bloom.  Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards. 
 Research: What I`m doing, when I don`t know what I`m doing.  Theory of relativity: If you go back far enough, we`re all related

Here are some great genealogy jokes!! 
 ___________________________________________________________LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO L
 When it comes to Genealogy I have a photograpic mind Too bad I ran out of film  years ago. 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 I went searching for an ancestor. I cannot find him still.
 He moved around from place to place and did not leave a will. He married where a courthouse burned. He mended all his fences. He avoided any man who came to take the US census. 
 He always kept his luggage packed, this man who had no fame. And every 20 years or so, this rascal changed his name.
 His parents came from Europe. They could be upon some list
 of passengers to the USA, but somehow they got missed. 
 And no one else in the world is searching for this man
 So, I play geneasolitaire to find him if I can. 
 I`m told he`s buried in a plot, with tombstone he was blessed but the weather took engraving and some vandals took the rest,  He died before the county clerks decided to keep records,
 No family bible has emerged in spite of all my efforts. 
 To top it off this ancestor, who caused me many groans. 
 Just to give me one more pain, betrothed a girl named JONES. author unknown 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 It was the first day of census, and all through the land
 each pollster was ready ... a black book in hand.
 He mounted his horse for a long dusty ride,
 his book and some quills were tucked close by his side.
 toward the smell of fresh bread wafting, up through the air.  The woman was tired, with lines on her face
 and wisps of brown hair she tucked back into place.
 She gave him some water ... as they sat at the table
 and she answered his questions ... the best she was able.
 He asked her of children. Yes, she had quite a few 
 the oldest was twenty, the youngest not two.

She held up a toddler with cheeks round and red;
 his sister, she whispered, was napping in bed.
 She noted each person who lived there with pride,
 and she felt the faint stirrings of the wee one inside.
 He noted the sex, the color, the age...
 the marks from the quill soon filled up the page.
 At the number of children, she nodded her head 
 and saw her lips quiver for the three that were dead.
 The places of birth she `never forgot`
 was it Kansas? or Utah? or Oregon ... or not?
 They came from Scotland, of that she was clear,
 but she wasn`t quite sure just how long they`d been here.

They spoke of employment, of schooling and such,
 they could read some and write some though really not much.
 When the questions were answered, his job there was done
 so he mounted his horse and he rode toward the sun.
 We can almost imagine his voice loud and clear,
 `May God bless you all for another ten years.`

Now picture a time warp ... its` now you and me 
 as we search for the people on our family tree.
 We squint at the census and scroll down so slow
 as we search for that entry from long, long ago.
 Could they only imagine on that long ago day
 that the entries they made would effect us this way?

If they knew would they wonder at the yearning we feel
 and the searching that makes them so increasingly real. 
 We can hear if we listen the words they impart
 through their blood in our veins and their voice in our heart. --- Author unknown. 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 My family tree needs more wood and less sap.

My family tree must be a pecan because it is full of nuts.

Old genealogist never die, they just lose their census.

Genealogy is not fatal, but it is a grave disease.

A Genealogist`s wish list............

I WANT:
 I want ancestors with names like Rudimentary Montagnard or
 Melchizedick von Steubenhoffmannschild or Spetznatz 
 Gianfortoni, not William Brown or John Hunter or Mary Abbott.

I want ancestors who could read and write, had their children baptized in recognized houses of worship, went to school, 
 purchased land, left detailed wills (naming a huge extended  family as legatees), had their photographs taken once a year --  subsequently putting said pictures in elaborate isinglass frames  annotated with calligraphic inscriptions, and carved voluble and informative inscriptions in their headstones.

I want relatives who managed to bury their predecessors in 
 established, still-extant (and indexed) cemeteries.

I want family members who wrote memoirs, who enlisted in the military as officers and who served in strategically important (and well documented) skirmishes.

I want relatives who served as councilmen, schoolteachers, 
 county clerks and town historians.

I want relatives who `religiously` wrote in the family Bible, journaling every little event And detailing the familial relationship of every visitor.

In the case of immigrant progenitors, I want them to have arrived only in those years wherein passenger lists were indexed by  National Archives, and I want them to have applied for 
 citizenship, and to have done so only in those jurisdictions  which have since established indices.

I want relatives who were patriotic and clubby, who joined every patrimonial society they could find, who kept diaries, and listed all their addresses, who had paintings made of their horses, and who dated every piece of paper they touched.

I want forebears who were wealthy enough to afford, and to 
 keep for generations, the tribal homestead, and who left all the  aforementioned pictures and diaries and journals intact in the  library.

But most of all, I want relatives I can find!!!

 

Many many years ago, When I was twenty-three,
 I got married to a widow, Who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter, Who had hair of red.
 My father fell in love with her, And soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law, And changed my very life.
 My daughter was my mother, For she was my father`s wife.

To complicate the matters worse, Although it brought me joy, I soon became the father; Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became, A brother-in-law to dad. 

And so became my uncle, Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle, Then that also made him brother
 To the widow`s grown-up daughter, Who, of course, was my step-mother.

Father`s wife then had a son, Who kept them on the run.
 And he became my grandson, For he was my daughter`s son.

My wife is now my mother`s mother, And it makes me blue.
 Because, although she is my wife, She`s my grandmother too.

If my wife is my grandmother, Then I am her grandchild.
 And every time I think of it, It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become, The strangest case you ever saw.
 As the husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa!

NEXT GENERATION GENEALOGISTS
 A modern mother is explaining to her little girl about pictures in the family  photo album. `This is the geneticist with your surrogate mother and here`s  your 
 sperm donor and your father`s clone. This is me holding you when you were just  a frozen embryo. The lady with the very troubled look on her face is your  aunt, 
 she`s the family genealogist.`

 

Elusive Kinsman

Alas, my elusive kinsman
 You`ve led me quite a chase
 I thought I`d found your courthouse
 But the Yankees burned the place.
 You always kept your bags packed
 Although you had no fame, and
 Just for the fun of it
 Twice you changed your name.
 You never owed any man, or
 At least I found no bills
 In spite of eleven offspring
 You never left a will.
 They say our name`s from Europe
 Came state side on a ship
 Either they lost the passenger list
 Or granddad gave them the slip.
 I`m the only one looking
 Another searcher I can`t find
 I pray (maybe that`s his fathers name)
 As I go out of my mind.
 They said you had a headstone
 In a shady plot
 I`ve been there twenty times, and
 Can`t even find the lot.
 You never wrote a letter
 Your Bible we can`t find
 It`s probably in some attic
 Out of sight and out of mind.
 You first married a .....Smith
 And just to set the tone
 The other four were Sarahs
 And everyone a Jones.
 You cost me two fortunes
 One of which I did not have
 My wife, my house and Fido
 God, how I miss that yellow lab.
 But somewhere you slipped up,
 Ole Boy, Somewhere you left a track
 And if I don`t find you this year
 Well...... Next year I`ll be back!

Author: Wayne Hand

 

The Genealogist`s Psalm

Genealogy is my pastime, I shall not stray;
 It maketh me to lie down and examine half-buried tombstones. It leadeth me into still Court Houses,
 it restoreth my ancestral knowledge.
 It leadeth me in paths of census records and ships`
 passenger lists
 for my surname`s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the shadows of research
 libraries and microfilm readers,
 I shall fear no discouragement;
 for a strong urge is within me;
 the curiosity and motivation
 they comfort me.

It demandeth preparation of storage space for the
 acquisition of countless documents;
 it anointest my head with burning midnight oil,
 my family group sheets runneth over.
 Surely birth, marriage, and death dates shall follow me
 all the days of my life;
 and I shall dwell in the house of a family-history seeker
 for ever.

--Wildamae Brestal

From `Dear Abby`  

Dear Abby:  I have always wanted 

to have my family history traced, 

but I can`t afford to spend a lot of 

money to do it.  Any suggestions? 

~ Sam in California ~ 

Dear Sam:  Yes.  Run for public office.

Genealogy
 Genealogy begins as an interest,
 Becomes a hobby;
 Continues as an avocation,
 Takes over as an obsession,
 And in its last stages,
 Is an incurable disease.

--Author Unknown

Funny Names found in genealogy 

Comfort Castle - found in 1830 Columbia County, NY. 
  
 Constant Chase - found in 1830 Boston, Suffolk Co, MA. 
  
 Noble Crapper - found in 1790 Worcester Co, MD. 
  
 Orange Field - found in 1930 Miller County, GA. 
  
 Tiny Little - found in 1930 Chatooga County, GA. 
  
 Joy Rider - found in 1930 Bennington, Morrow County, OH. 
  
 Cotton Tufts - found in 1830 Weymouth, Norfolk Co, MA. 
  
 Page Turner - found in 1880 Putnam County, GA. 
  
 Frost Snow - found in 1920 Reed Island, Pulaski Co, VA.

Tracing My Tree

I started out calmly, tracing my tree,
 To find if I could find the makings of me.
 And all that I had was Great-grandfather`s name,
 not knowing his wife or from where he came.
 I chased him across a long line of states,
 And came up with pages and pages of dates.
 When all put together, it made me forlorn,
 Proved poor Great-grandpa had never been born.
 One day I was sure the truth I had found,
 Determined to turn this whole thing upside down.
 I looked up the record of one Uncle John,
 But then I found the old man to be younger than his son.
 Then when my hopes were fast growing dim,
 I came across records that must have been him.
 The facts I collected made me quite sad,
 Dear old Great grandfather was never a Dad.
 I think someone is pulling my leg,
 I am not at all sure I wasn`t hatched from an egg.
 After hundreds of dollars I`ve spent on my tree,
 I can`t help but wonder if I`m really me..

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 Murphy`s Law for Genealogists
 The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at  which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be a hanging.

When at last after much hard work you have solved the mystery you have been  working on for two years, your aunt says, `I could have told you that`

You grandmother`s maiden name that you have searched for for four years was on  a letter in a box in the attic all the time.

You never asked your father about his family when he was alive because you  weren`t interested in genealogy then.

The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic.

Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames.

John, son of Thomas, the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family  progenitor, died on board ship at age 10.

Your great grandfather`s newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no  issue of record.

The keeper of the vital records you need has just been insulted by a another  genealogist.

The relative who had all the family photographs gave them all to her daughter  who has no interest in genealogy and no inclination to share.

The only record you find for your great grandfather is that his property was  sold at a sheriff`s sale for insolvency.

The one document that would supply the missing link in your dead-end line has  been lost due to fire, flood or war.

The town clerk to whom you wrote for the information sends you a long  handwritten letter which is totally illegible.

The spelling of your European ancestor`s name bears no relationship to its  current spelling or pronunciation.

None of the pictures in your recently deceased grandmother`s photo album have  names written on them.

No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, owned property, was  sued or was named in wills.

You learn that your great aunt`s executor just sold her life`s collection of  family genealogical materials to a flea market dealer `somewhere in New York  City.`

Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value  of the data recorded.

The 37 volume, sixteen thousand page history of your county of origin isn`t  indexed.

You finally find your great grandparent`s wedding records and discover that  the 
 brides` father was named John Smith.

[For the following, insert your state/county of choice]
 Your distinguished ancestor, related to the governor of Victoria, turns out to  be the caterer who once cooked dinner for him.

Your distinguished ancestor who was 1. Secretary of the Mint 2. Brought out  from England to be the first accountant for the Sandhurst railway Victoria,  turns out to be a clerk in the railways.

Your distinguished ancestor who was well educated, went to Heidelberg  University and spoke several languages, shows up in the census as an  apprentice 
 to a German silversmith, in Hereford no less!

My contribution ... You finally find the birth of your ancestor, only to find  they were born before their parents.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 All I Want For Christmas
 Dear Santa:

Don`t bring me new dishes;
 I don`t need a new kind of game.
 Genealogists have peculiar wishes;
 For Christmas I just want a surname.
 A new washing machine would be great,
 But it isn`t the desire of my life.
 I`ve just found an ancestor`s birth date,
 Now I need the name of his wife.
 My heart doesn`t yearn for a ring
 that would put a real diamond to shame.
 What I want is a much cheaper thing:
 Please give me Martha`s last name.
 To see my heart singing with joy,
 Don`t bring me a red leather suitcase.
 Bring me a genealogist`s toy:
 A surname, with dates and a place.
 == Author Unknown



------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 HEREDITY: A GENEALOGY POEM BY GRANDPA TUCKER
 I saw a duck the other day.
 It had the feet of my Aunt Faye.
 Then it walked, was heading South.
 It waddled like my Uncle Ralph.

And when it turned, I must propose,
 Its bill was formed like Aunt Jane`s nose.
 I thought, `Oh, no! It`s just my luck,
 Someday I`ll look just like a duck!`

I sobbed to Mom about my fears,
 And she said, `Honey, dry your tears.
 You look like me, so walk with pride.
 Those folks are all from Daddy`s side.`



------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 GRANDMA`S DISEASE Author unknown courtesy Connie Washburn
 There`s been a change in Grandma, we`ve noticed her of late. She always reading history or jotting down some date.
 She`s tracking back the family, we`ll all have pedigrees.
 Oh, Grandma`s got a hobby - she`s climbing the FAMILY TREE.

Poor Grandpa does the cooking, and now, or so he states,
 That worst of all, he has to wash the cups and dinner plates. Grandma can`t be bothered, she busy as a bee,
 Compiling genealogy for the FAMILY TREE.

She has no time to babysit, the curtains are a fright,
 No buttons left on Grandpa`s shirt, the flower bed`s a sight. She`s given up her club work and the soaps on TV,
 the only thing she does nowadays is climb the FAMILY TREE.

She goes down to the courthouse and studies ancient lore,
 We know more about our forebears than we ever knew before.
 The books are old and dusty, they make poor Grandma sneeze,
 A minor irritation when you`re climbing the FAMILY TREE.

The mail is all for Grandma, it comes from near and far,
 Last week she got the proof she needs to join the D.A.R.
 A monumental project all do agree,
 All from climbing up the FAMILY TREE.

Now some folks came from Scotland, some from Galway Bay,
 Some were French as pastry, some German all the way.
 Some went West to stake there claims, some stayed there by the sea. Grandma hopes to find them all, as she climbs the FAMILY TREE.

She wanders through the graveyard in search of date and name, The rich, the poor, the in-between, all sleeping there the same. She pauses now and then to rest, fanned by a gentle breeze,
 That blows above the Fathers of all our FAMILY TREES.

There are pioneers and patriots, mixed in our kith and kin,
 Who blazed the paths of wilderness and fought through thick and thin. But none more staunch than Grandma, who eyes light up with glee, Each time she finds a missing branch for the FAMILY TREE.

Their skills were wide and varied, from carpenter to cook,
 And one, alas, the records show, was hopelessly a crook.
 Blacksmith, weaver, farmer, judge - some tutored for a fee.
 Once lost in time, now all recorded on the FAMILIY TREE.

To some it`s just a hobby, to Grandma it`s much more,
 She learns the joys and heartaches of those that went before. They loved, they lost, they laughed, they wept - and now,for you and me, They live again in spirit, around the FAMILY TREE.

At last she`s nearly finished and we are each exposed
 , Life will be the same again, this we all supposed.
 Grandma will cook and sew, serve cookies with our tea.
 We`ll all be fat, just as before the wretched FAMILY TREE.

Sad to relate, the preacher called and visited for a spell.
 We talked about the Gospel, and other things as well.
 The heathen folk, the poor and then - twas fate, it had to be, Somehow the conversation turned to Grandma and the FAMILY TREE.

He never knew his Grandpa, his mother`s name was..... Clark? He and Grandma talked and talked, outside it grew dark.
 We`d hoped our fears were groundless, but just like some disease, Grandma`s become an addict - she`s hooked on FAMILY TREES.

Our souls are filled with sorrow, our hearts sad with dismay. Our ears could scarce believe the words we heard our Grandma say, `It sure is a lucky thing that you have come to me,
 I know exactly how it`s done, I`ll climb your FAMILY TREE.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
 NO FOOTPRINTS IN THE SANDS OF TIME (Author unknown)
 It`s nice to come from gentle folks
 Who wouldn`t stoop to brawl,
 Who never took a lusty poke
 At anyone at all.
 Who never raised a raucous shout
 At any country inn,
 Or calmed an ugly fellow lout
 With a belaying pin.
 Who never shot at a revenuer
 Hunting for a still,
 Who never rustled cattle
 and agreed with Uncle`s will.
 Who lived life as they ought
 without uncouth distraction,
 And shunned like leprosy a thought
 of taking legal action.
 It`s nice to come from gentle folks
 Who`ve never known disgrace
 But oh, though scandal is no joke
 It`s far easier to trace!



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Getting Around
There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.

In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool.

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