I am descended from the Morgan, Thomas, Vogt, and Rushe families in the very simplest of terms. I'm also researching my husband's Cerepani and Breitinger roots. Every day, I discover more surnames that connect to those basic families--far too many to list. Most of the people I've researched are people I've never had the pleasure to personally know. Occasionally, persons appear that I do, in fact, know which is always a pleasant surprise. I try to follow these families as far back in time and as far forward in time as possible. As I travel through time with them, I try to see that those who have now passed on have Find A Grave memorials, that their birth and death information is complete, and that they are connected to their parents, spouses, and children. Other caring individuals--usually volunteers--have, in some cases, included other items of interest on these memorials which have often been very helpful in my research.

I have requested and received several of these memorials to manage. Find A Grave policy is that these memorials should only be transferred to close family members, and perhaps someday more people will get involved with this website to enable the memorials to be managed by only close family members. At the present time, volunteers are the ones who usually create and manage the memorials. Truly, I am very thankful for their efforts. However, I think family members usually make better choices as the managers, when available, regardless of the distance in their familial relationship. I think it becomes a matter of who is going to care more about the guardianship of this precious information. With that opinion in mind, I will continue to ask for some transfers and am certainly willing to accept any transfers from others. I will also always be willing to transfer memorials entrusted to me when approached by closer family members than me. Let me just take a moment to mention that I have created a few and/or manage a few memorials for some non-family members. These persons are friends or family of friends of mine which I carefully researched as well. Let me also just say that people aren't just born and die--they live in between. Some of them have interesting stories--actually they all probably do. There is only so much one can learn through research on a site like Ancestry. It is my hope to try and form the stories of the people I manage and add those stories to their memorials in time.

WE ARE THE CHOSEN:
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. 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. All tribes have one. 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. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to whom am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying, "I can't let this happen." The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. 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 in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth. Without them, we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and ascribing each fact of their existence, because we are they, and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before.

-Author Unknown (Please feel free to use this quote as I think the 'Author Unknown' had very special insight)

A little about me...I lived most of my life in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--much of it with my husband and two children (now grown). Through the years, I heard piecemeal stories about my families and was privileged to know a lot of these wonderful people. Some years ago, I realized that more and more of these family members do not live forever; and that I should try to make sense of it all while I still could ask my mom questions. Fortunately, I scribbled a ton of notes; unfortunately, they were a disorganized mess. Fortunately, I discovered that my computer could be used to make sense of those notes and fill in the blanks. Mom is gone now as are all the older generations of the families I mentioned. Luckily, I'm not the only one researching and collecting information about every branch that I'm trying to explore and their input has been invaluable. In the process, I've been very pleased to make a few new friends of some of my distant cousins! I hope that the information I've accumulated will be of interest to my son or daughter someday; but even if not, I know there are now and always will be others who are interested in family history. Regardless, I'm thoroughly enjoying the journey through all the branches of my tree.

Please feel free to contact me with any corrections or additions to the memorials I manage. As I said before, the information contained in these records comes primarily from my research on Ancestry.com or from what others have provided on this website. I know some of this information is probably not 100% accurate--errors do occur on the census records, military records, Social Security records, etc. because we're all human.

I am descended from the Morgan, Thomas, Vogt, and Rushe families in the very simplest of terms. I'm also researching my husband's Cerepani and Breitinger roots. Every day, I discover more surnames that connect to those basic families--far too many to list. Most of the people I've researched are people I've never had the pleasure to personally know. Occasionally, persons appear that I do, in fact, know which is always a pleasant surprise. I try to follow these families as far back in time and as far forward in time as possible. As I travel through time with them, I try to see that those who have now passed on have Find A Grave memorials, that their birth and death information is complete, and that they are connected to their parents, spouses, and children. Other caring individuals--usually volunteers--have, in some cases, included other items of interest on these memorials which have often been very helpful in my research.

I have requested and received several of these memorials to manage. Find A Grave policy is that these memorials should only be transferred to close family members, and perhaps someday more people will get involved with this website to enable the memorials to be managed by only close family members. At the present time, volunteers are the ones who usually create and manage the memorials. Truly, I am very thankful for their efforts. However, I think family members usually make better choices as the managers, when available, regardless of the distance in their familial relationship. I think it becomes a matter of who is going to care more about the guardianship of this precious information. With that opinion in mind, I will continue to ask for some transfers and am certainly willing to accept any transfers from others. I will also always be willing to transfer memorials entrusted to me when approached by closer family members than me. Let me just take a moment to mention that I have created a few and/or manage a few memorials for some non-family members. These persons are friends or family of friends of mine which I carefully researched as well. Let me also just say that people aren't just born and die--they live in between. Some of them have interesting stories--actually they all probably do. There is only so much one can learn through research on a site like Ancestry. It is my hope to try and form the stories of the people I manage and add those stories to their memorials in time.

WE ARE THE CHOSEN:
We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. 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. All tribes have one. 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. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to whom am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying, "I can't let this happen." The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. 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 in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth. Without them, we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and ascribing each fact of their existence, because we are they, and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before.

-Author Unknown (Please feel free to use this quote as I think the 'Author Unknown' had very special insight)

A little about me...I lived most of my life in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--much of it with my husband and two children (now grown). Through the years, I heard piecemeal stories about my families and was privileged to know a lot of these wonderful people. Some years ago, I realized that more and more of these family members do not live forever; and that I should try to make sense of it all while I still could ask my mom questions. Fortunately, I scribbled a ton of notes; unfortunately, they were a disorganized mess. Fortunately, I discovered that my computer could be used to make sense of those notes and fill in the blanks. Mom is gone now as are all the older generations of the families I mentioned. Luckily, I'm not the only one researching and collecting information about every branch that I'm trying to explore and their input has been invaluable. In the process, I've been very pleased to make a few new friends of some of my distant cousins! I hope that the information I've accumulated will be of interest to my son or daughter someday; but even if not, I know there are now and always will be others who are interested in family history. Regardless, I'm thoroughly enjoying the journey through all the branches of my tree.

Please feel free to contact me with any corrections or additions to the memorials I manage. As I said before, the information contained in these records comes primarily from my research on Ancestry.com or from what others have provided on this website. I know some of this information is probably not 100% accurate--errors do occur on the census records, military records, Social Security records, etc. because we're all human.