My name is Cheryl Babcock (Melton) Wilson. I am researching for the benefit of my granddaughters. I have been researching my family tree since the 1980's (before I had a personal computer, before ancestry, before findagrave). The research was very time consuming because each document had to be requested by mail. I joined findagrave in 2009. Since Ancestry , Findagrave, Genweb, My Heritage and others, researching has become a lot easier and much more productive. The ability to communicate with distant relatives has been both helpful and wonderful.

I have found 8 direct ancestors that were Revolutionary War Veterans, so far, and many Civil War veterans that fought on both sides. I am the proud daughter of and the proud mother of combat veterans. I thank all military veterans for the freedom that I enjoy.
I love finding the personal histories of the men and women that contributed to my being here.

I moved away from Tampa, FL and moved back to TN in 2013.

The following poem says it all:

The Strangers In The Box

Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still serene.
I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where or when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?
Make time to save your stories,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.
-written by Pamela A. Harazim

My name is Cheryl Babcock (Melton) Wilson. I am researching for the benefit of my granddaughters. I have been researching my family tree since the 1980's (before I had a personal computer, before ancestry, before findagrave). The research was very time consuming because each document had to be requested by mail. I joined findagrave in 2009. Since Ancestry , Findagrave, Genweb, My Heritage and others, researching has become a lot easier and much more productive. The ability to communicate with distant relatives has been both helpful and wonderful.

I have found 8 direct ancestors that were Revolutionary War Veterans, so far, and many Civil War veterans that fought on both sides. I am the proud daughter of and the proud mother of combat veterans. I thank all military veterans for the freedom that I enjoy.
I love finding the personal histories of the men and women that contributed to my being here.

I moved away from Tampa, FL and moved back to TN in 2013.

The following poem says it all:

The Strangers In The Box

Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still serene.
I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where or when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?
Make time to save your stories,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.
-written by Pamela A. Harazim