Genealogy and Brilliant Compassion

There has been an ongoing debate among 'historians' that somehow a degree makes a person a 'better' historian than a genealogist (who is just a hobbyist).  I strongly disagree with this, especially since I've seen some sloppy biographies of noted heroes.  Genealogists work strictly with primary documentation - the census records, the vital records (birth, death and marriage) while some historians rely solely on what has been published before or what is available in their local archives.  Most genealogists I know make pilgrimages to the places where their ancestors lived.  They locate cemeteries, churches and get a true feel for the community where their family members lived and died.  My father and I have accumulated a treasure of experiences from interviewing people who lived down the street, including a shy elderly woman who merely peeped around a tree to answer my father's questions about one of our great uncles.  She answered concisely and clearly, but preferred to have the tree between him and her.  Can a historian glean that from a book?
And with this experience comes something I can only call brilliant compassion.  Because this elderly woman, along with the grave-digger walking along the side of the road one day in present day Lee County, NC and the old man with the granddaughter who liked to swat visitors with a fly-swatter all bequeathed us something more than answers.  They gave us the culture of our ancestors.  And that is why genealogists get it right and historians get it wrong.  That is why the history books are not accurate.

Must read books about history and compassion:

Historical Cemetery Preservation Programs

Letter to Scott Sosebee, Ph.D., Jere Jackson (CHC), Archie McDonald Ph.D, F Abernathy Ph.D, Tom Middlebrook, Archeology Division Steward Program, Brian Bray, Certified Local Government Contact, Larissa Pholpot (Visionaries in Preservation Community)

William Goyens Jr's Centennial Marker was unique because only 10% of the 13,000 historic markers in the state are (were) located on burial sites. If you check with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) there are several programs enacted to protect these sites, including: Historical Texas Cemetery Designation Program (protecting cemeteries and burial sites by recording them in deed records), RIP Statewide Cemetery Survey Project (year 2000 to help locate historic cemeteries), RIP Guardian Program, recently initiated to encourage working with volunteer groups around the state for cemetery preservation methods, and the Role of County Historical Commissioners. The County Historical Commissioner (CHC) works with the THC on a variety of preservation projects, including cemeteries.

I have contacted the THC and the Constituent Communication Division for the Office of our Governor, Rick Perry where I learned the above information.

There is much work to be done. I would like to see Goyens' family cemetery preserved, honorably marked (as it once was by the Texas Centennial Commission before the marker was moved) and accessible to the public after years of abandonment. I will be in Nacogdoches September 17-20 and available to meet with you concerning your plans to cooperate with the roles you have been entrusted with in preserving the history of Nacogdoches.

Thank you,
Cyndie Goins Hoelscher