Saints and Strangers

22 November 2022 Saints and Strangers is an amazing show. There are two parts. We descend from Stephen Hopkins through Daniel Tidd and Sarah Jane Eldridge, husband and wife. Stephen is nine generations out from Sarah and thirteen generations from me. The show really brings history to life. I am grateful for our ancestors and the sacrifices they made in coming to this country. The book Saints and Strangers is on my bookshelf and I need to read it again. We have ancestors from many countries who came in various time periods. What a blessing to have history to share with our descendants. Doing family history is so much more than names, dates and places. The past three years have been seasons of discovery. Each time period brought challenges for men, women and children. We have few stories from 1620 to 1720, when the focus was more on survival. From 1720 to 1820 was the period of establishment. They found ways to make everyday living easier and yet continued to be a support to family, friends and neighbors. Then from 1820 to 1920 the world of communication opened up and we could follow our ancestors more closely. The world also began to expand in intellectual pursuits. Genealogy enjoyed a period of awakening to an understanding of our forebears. We now are passing through 1920 to 2020. Our communications span the globe with internet connections. In fifteen years what will we be like? How will we impact the world around us? The United States of America, 1620 to 2020, 400 years of amazing development, what can we learn from those who took courage and crossed the ocean to prepare a place for us? What can we share with the future generations?