Grandma Climbed The Family Tree

There's been a change in Grandma, we've
noticed as of late
She's always reading history, or jotting down some date.
She's tracing back the family, we all have pedigrees.

Grandma's got a hobby, she's climbing Family Trees...
Poor Grandpa does the cooking, and now, or so he states,
He even has to wash the cups and the dinner plates.

Well, Grandma can't be bothered, she's busy as a bee,
Compiling genealogy for the Family Tree.
She has no time to baby sit, the curtains are a fright.
No buttons left on Grandpa's shirt, the flower bed's a sight.

She's given up her club work, the serials on TV,
The only thing she does nowadays is climb the Family Tree.
The mail is all for Grandma, it comes from near and far.
Last week she got the proof she needs to join the DAR.

A monumental project - to that we all agree,
A worthwhile avocation - to climb the Family Tree.
There were pioneers and patriots mixed with our kith and kin,
Who blazed the paths of wilderness and fought through thick and thin.

But none more staunch than Grandma, whose eyes light up with glee,
Each time she finds a missing branch for the Family Tree.
To some it's just a hobby, to Grandma it's much more.
She learns the joys and heartaches of those who went before.

They loved, they lost, they laughed, they wept - and now for you and me,
They live again, in spirit, around the Family Tree.
At last she's nearly finished, and we are each exposed.
Life will be the same again, this we all suppose.

Grandma will cook and sew, serve crullers with our tea.
We'll have her back, just as before that wretched Family Tree...
Sad to relate, the Preacher called and visited for a spell
We talked abut the Gospel and other things as well.
The heathen folk, the poor and then, twas fate, it had to be
Somehow the conversation turned to Grandma's Family Tree.
We tried to change the subject, we talked of everything
But then in Grandmas's voice we heard that old familiar ring
She told him all about the past, and soon twas plain to see
The Preacher, too, was neatly snared by Grandma's Family Tree.
 

By Virginia Day McDonald, Macon, Georgia

   That's strange; half my ancestors are WOMEN!
 
   Do I even WANT ancestors? Some I found I wish I could lose.
 
   Every family tree has some sap in it.
 
   FLOOR: (n) The place for storing your priceless genealogy records.
 
   Friends come and go, but relatives tend to accumulate.

   Genealogists do it in the library.
 
   Genealogists live in the past lane.
 
   Genealogists never die, they just loose their roots.
 
   Genealogy: A hay stack full of needles. It's the threads I need.
 
   Genealogy: Collecting dead relatives and sometimes a live cousin!
 
  Genealogy: Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living.
 
   Heredity: Everyone believes in it until their children act like fools!
 
   I looked at my family tree ... there were two dogs using it.
 
  I think my family tree is a few branches short of full bloom.
 
   Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.
 
   My ancestors are hiding in a witness protection program.
 
   My family tree is a few branches short!
 
   Research: What I'm doing, when I don't know what I'm doing.
 
  Take nothing but ancestors, leave nothing but records.
 
   Theory of relativity: If you go back far enough, we're all related.
 
   "May you ask the right question of the right person at the right time."
 
   "Genealogy it's not just a hobby, it's a way of life!"