Gratitude for My Ancestors

Pictured from left to right: James Alexander Milton, Mary Jane Dry Milton, Odessa Lee Milton

This morning I received an email notification from FamilySearch.org informing me of a timeline created for my great-grandfather James Alexander Milton. Upon reviewing his timeline, I found out that his father died in the Battle of Gettysburg when he was one year old. Then his mother died when he was two. I remember my father speaking of him when I was younger and how my great-grandmother died of a broken heart from losing her husband so soon after their marriage and their first child's birth.

I saw on his timeline that he was married when he was 19 years old. He and his wife lost their first two children, both under two years of age and within three years of each other. Later in their marriage, my grandmother, Odessa Lee Milton, the last of 6 children, was born. She died at the age of 32 when my father was only 12, of a ruptured appendix.

While I was reviewing my great-grandfather's timeline, it was interesting to me of the memories that came flooding back of stories my father would tell when I was growing up - stories that were repeated and at the time seemed useless information.

After reading his timeline, I felt so heartbroken for the trials that he, as a young child, endured and the heartache he and his wife suffered during their marriage. Of their six children, they buried 3 of their children during their lifetime.

I am so grateful for family history and the connection I feel to ancestors that I never met but will meet in the eternities.