Dreams Realized

I'm into this thing called WikiTree, which is awesome.  The goal is to create one massive tree that connects everyone to everyone else, something I'm very hip to as I've been discovering that everyone is related to everyone else since 2007.  It's very cool and it's very challenging and it's very hard because the emphasis is on documentation, something I've just recently become serious about.  I've added bunches of people to the tree and am starting to document the lives of these people and it is slow going.  I used to take all information I found as the gospel truth, which was naive at best and stupid at worst.  I was stupid a lot when I first started this genealogical journey, and I'm paying for it now.

This morning I found out that I could get a badge for being a blogger.  I'm not a badge, um, whore, but I've had this genealogy blog since I started seriously digging for family.  That means something to me.  It means a lot.  So I applied to be put on the bloggers list at WikiTree and then read some of the blogs of other WikiTree'ers.  I am not worthy.  If I could take back my request to be added, I would.  But something wonderful came from it because I went back and read the earliest days of this blog and realized just how far I've come.

Back in 2008 I was still searching for John M Lemon, the brother of my great grandfather.  I found him.  And his wives.  And two sons.  And his grandchildren.  And when he died.  So in the future I can order a copy of his death certificate and find out where he's buried.  When I do, I will have documented each of Isaac B Lemon's sibling's final resting place.  Except for one.  William Lemon will always be a mystery to me.  He doesn't seem to have come down into Michigan with the rest of Isaac M and Ann Hepzibah Tiffin Lemon's children.  If he did, I can't find him.  Every lead I've ever found ran into a dead end. Did he die in Canada?  Did he stay in Canada?

I found every one of Mary Ann Lemon Mason's children.  And their spouses.  And her grandchildren.  And I even received in the mail one of my most precious genealogical pictures; one of Mary Ann at about the age of 50 or 60.  Her hair is white, her eyes are clear and piercing, and she looks like what she was; a survivor.

So I am celebrating dreams realized;  I have found so much.  I have gained so much.  I'm so happy today that words can't describe it.  I am rejoicing in the knowledge that all of these people are a part of me, that I am a part of them.  That I know they were born, they married, they had families, they lived their lives and then moved on to whatever comes next and they are remembered.