Stuff

I wrote this to a friend in an email several years ago now. I am putting it here before I begin to edit it. I am not sure why I did not, or if I put it somewhere else in my writings. If this is a repeat, I apologize.
Wait. Did I just apologize to myself? Rubbish! lol

Here it is:

Looking for History
Exploring the Past

Finding my Family
Solving the mystery

Strangers the last
Where did I come from?

Who could they be?
Why so important
is this to me?

Where did they travel
Freedom and Prosperity Seek

What made them wander
From lands far away

Seeking much better
Risks, they did meet

Wander lust stronger
than Homestead it seems

Crossing Mountains, ditches,
Hilltops and Streams

Land Rush in wagons
Walking and riding
Watching for dangers

Fears never subsiding
What did they leave
behind them

What chased them away?
Were they following Passion?

Why couldn't they stay?
"Onward Wagons"
Did this they hear?

What kind of Adventures
and Hardships did they bear?

Children dying, illness and woes
Strength never failing

They moved on for years.
From England to Massachusetts

They came by boat
Then on to Vermont

For a few years of History
and Hope

In Illinois's Beauty
they settled a while

Then on to Wisconsin,
Iowa, and Missouri
they moved with style

I may never find the
exact things I seek

The route is so muddled,
but a quest it is true.

Researching and Looking
Is time well spent I know

Struggling to find Family
sometimes goes slow.

Never sure what I am
finding will have meaning
to too few

I know in the study
Myself I will better
know.

It helps to see clearly
how things were way
back then

So my own Life has
more meaning
and the generations
can Sing!

My Children someday
will know the struggles
they face now

Are as different as Snow
As through their own Lives
they continually go.

We all can learn
something so great
Investigating the Past

Just so we aren't Stuck there

And move Forward
Not Back!