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"It is sometimes asked: Why not act in the living present, instead of giving so much attention to the history and genealogy of the past?
Daniel Wegy of the past?
Daniel Webster?s answer to this question is as follows: ?It is wise for us to recur to the history of our ancestors. Those who do not look upon themselves as a link connecting the past with the future, do not perform their duty to the world.? In the Magazine of American History, the Chairman of this Committee published the following article entitled "
Why Study Genealogy"?
Because this study furnishes one way of honoring ?thy father and thy mother?; it broadens one?s horizon; it links us to our Kinsmen of the present and the past; it awakens and deepens an interest in history. It brings out family characteristics that may reappear, points out special talents that may well be cultivated, and family failings that must be guarded against. It sometimes settles questions of inheritance. It ministers to that honorable pride that all ought to feel in the grand accomplishments of one?s ancestors. It is an incentive and an encouragement to the performance of similar deeds. The great historic events of the ages are personal matters to us, if someone of to us, if someone of the same name took part in them. How delightful to find that one has Kinsmen over all the land and even in foreign countries!
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