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Friday, March 29, 2019

Connected in Strykersville

Once, when driving through New York a couple of summers ago, in a small town called Strykersville, my mom and I saw a small sign on the side of the road: "Strykersville Pioneer Cemetery." Though to our knowledge we had no ancestors from Strykersville, the quaint sign with the old swinging gate, surrounded by tall trees, called to me, and we decided to park the car on the side of the road and explore.

As we entered, there seemed to me to be a feeling of untouched hallowedness. Some headstones were still standing and readable, while others were broken, covered with moss, grass, and dirt - only a faded remembrance of the people they had once honored. 

There were several stones near the front, belonging to Revolutionary War veterans, a discovery which delighted me! Growing up in the west, I had never come across such old relics of the past, and my imagination wandered to far off times and places where freedom and liberty was so valiantly sacrificed for. I wondered what all the tall trees I then stood in the midst of, had seen.


I was saddened that so many of the headstones in this solemn place had been forgotten and left to decay. But, standing  among them, I felt strongly connected to these seemingly forgotten people. I was not related to them, did not known their names, yet they, whoever they were, were real to me. I realized that you don't need to be related to someone or even know their name, to be able to feel connected to them. And really, isn't that why family history and history are important? So that we can be connected through the ages?

On that same trip to New York, in a small shop, I came across a plaque with this quote:

"The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make." - William Morris

How fitting to find this quote only a few days after being in Strykersville; a place where, though not on the records of my family tree, I made a tender connection.

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