I have been doing research on my ancestors and have discovered some interesting people.   I have found a knight in my genealogy timeline. Sir John de Holcombe 1175-1259 fought in the crusades. He was knighted by Richard I (Richard the Lion Hearted) because he cut off three Turks heads with one swoop of his sword. He was also given Holcombe Manor. He was killed in the third Palestine  crusade. He goes back 24 generations.
I found an ancestor named Lucy Holcombe Perkins who was called the queen of the Confederacy and her picture is on a one dollar confederate bill and also a one hundred dollar bill. She sold her jewels given to her by the Russian Tsar when her husband was an ambassador to Russia to help with the civil war . Her husband became governor of South Carolina after the secession.
On the Chastain side,  I discovered a United States senator named Elijah Webb Chastain. He served two terms.  When the Civil War started he joined up and became a Major. He survived the war but later he and some other men were crossing a river on their horses. His horse stumbled, throwing him off and then crushed him against a rock where he drowned.  I had a great uncle, John Chastain who was killed in the battle of Chickamauga. My great grandfather fought in the war and when he died he still had three mini balls inside him.
This has  been very interesting  and has entitled me to become a Daughter of the Confederacy.  I will apply one day.
It is strange to think about these people, to realize that they were flesh and blood just as I am and had the same dreams and aims and heartaches as I do.
It also makes me think that some of the things I get concerned about won't amount to anything in a few years, just as the things no longer matter to the people who have gone before me.