~ DEAR ANCESTOR ~
Your tombstone stands among the rest,
Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marble stone.
It reaches out to all who care;
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist;
You died, and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you,
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left,
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder how you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
~Walter Butler Palmer

About the Author: Walter Butler Palmer was by born, 22 Jun 1868 in Prairie Center, LaSalle, Illinois. He was the son of Ephraim Milo Palmer and Sarah Henderson Butler. He wrote the above poem "Dear Ancestor" in 1906 while he was visiting the grave of his great grandfather; Ephraim Palmer (1760-1852). He died 6 Jun 1932 in Ottawa, LaSalle, Illinois.

If crosses and tombstones could be erected on water, the whole route of the emigrant vessels from Europe to America would long since have assumed the appearance of a crowded cemetery.
From "The Great Hunger" by Cecil Woodham-Smith 1962 page 238

Kay Breding Netz. Minnesota

~ DEAR ANCESTOR ~
Your tombstone stands among the rest,
Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marble stone.
It reaches out to all who care;
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist;
You died, and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you,
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left,
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder how you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
~Walter Butler Palmer

About the Author: Walter Butler Palmer was by born, 22 Jun 1868 in Prairie Center, LaSalle, Illinois. He was the son of Ephraim Milo Palmer and Sarah Henderson Butler. He wrote the above poem "Dear Ancestor" in 1906 while he was visiting the grave of his great grandfather; Ephraim Palmer (1760-1852). He died 6 Jun 1932 in Ottawa, LaSalle, Illinois.

If crosses and tombstones could be erected on water, the whole route of the emigrant vessels from Europe to America would long since have assumed the appearance of a crowded cemetery.
From "The Great Hunger" by Cecil Woodham-Smith 1962 page 238

Kay Breding Netz. Minnesota