A Genealogist's Prayer

So far on this blog, I have posted information about my paternal lines, the Branch, Porter, Baldridge, Meriwether, and Gibson connections. I have posted very little yet about the Netherland family, my mother's family, nor the Williams family of Alabama and Mississippi, from which my paternal great-great-great-grandmother Margarett J. Williams descended. I still have much research to do and even more writing to document what I already have and what I hope to find.

Today, while reviewing my files and planning out how to present the rest of the family information I already have, I ran across this poem, written by N. Curtis Woods. I thought it expresses the sentiment of so many family researchers, including me, in their efforts to piece together centuries of information about their ancestors.

A Genealogist's Prayer

Lord, help me dig into the past

And sift the sands of time,

That I might find the roots that made

This family tree of mine.

Lord, help me trace the ancient roads

On which my fathers trod,

And led them through so many lands

To find our present sod.


Lord, help me find an ancient book

Or dusty manuscript,

That's safely hidden now away,

In some forgotten crypt;


Lord, let it bridge the gap

That haunts my soul when I can't find

The missing link between some name

That ends the same as mine.