Yea. Its true. I've been going crazy on ancestry.com and have found a lot of my relatives quite a few generations back.
On my maternal grandmothers side, through her mother, my line goes back to Thomas Lynch Jr, who was the father of Thomas Lynch III, who was the second youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. I'm not directly related to that guy, I'm related to his brother, David Lynch. Its all from ancestry.com. I could be wrong, I'm verifying it and all, who knows.
Sure, its a bit distant, but I think that guy Thomas would be considered my great uncle or something. Either way. Its pretty cool to think that my family is related to someone who had something to do with a great part of history.
I've been a bit consumed with this ancestry thing. I don't know why, I guess its just been a bit interesting to me, so I've been spending some time on it.
It got me to thinking about how I got here. For most of my life I've really only thought about that it was my mother and father who brought me into this world. Its far more than that actually. If you think about it, even if you just go back 5 generations, it took 16 couples having children, that eventually produced me.
Its that way for all of us. If you go back even farther, its amazing to think about how many people actually had to get married and have kids to get to you. Go back 6 generations, and it took 32 couples.
What's it all mean? Its quite powerful to think that the person that you are today is because of the countless people before you that had kids, who had kids who had kids. You are blessed to be here. Blessed to be alive. You are not here by accident, but by divine providence.
That guy Thomas Lynch III? At first when I was researching that connection, I was hopeful that he was in my direct line. Then I found out that he and his wife died in a boat wreck, before having any children. There was no way for him to be in my line. His line died, because he died. I'm here because his brother lived.
Think about that today. How many people came before you to get to you being here today. Its special when you think about it. You are a product of thousands of years of births.
Hopefully that encourages you today to think you're special. It sure did for me when I started to think about it.
Be blessed.
matt
family, birth, life... it's all pretty amazing if you really stop to think about it. sometimes in this day and age you can start to feel so much an individual---which isn't always a bad thing, but knowing about the people in your family who came before you gives you an amazing sense of roots, and at least for me, makes me thankful for the blessings of today and want to embrace the simplicity of the lives that came before me. :D
ReplyDeleteThe odds of being here at this point in time are astronimically against me - yet here I am. I'm the lottery winner! What had to happen before me to produce me? What hardships were endured, what acts of courage were required, how many dangerous close calls occurred? It is both wondrous and glorious to ponder! We are all lottery winners simply by our existence. It makes me feel good to think about.
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