Do They Really Help Us?

Have you felt "guided"  to a place while doing genealogy research?  I've had this happen several times.

Yeah, I'm sounding all (insert mystical music here) weird, but it's happened several times.  Do the people we research help us in some way?  Sometimes its just a pull to a certain area.  Sometimes, it's the hair on the back of my neck standing up.  It's unexplainable, but....well, it's true.  A friend of mine once said that she'd never knew anyone who could find a cemetery like me.

There was a time we were driving with her mom.  I was in the backseat and yelled "Stop" as we were going up a hill in Clark County, Kentucky.  When I got out of the car, there it was - several, several unmarked graves.  We returned the next day to investigate it more.  There were only two marked graves.  As we wandered around, I found an old telephone insulator on the ground.  As I went to pick it up, I saw that it was resting on a grave.  The grave of William Aldridge.  I stood and looked.  And wondered.  My 2g-grandfather had a brother named William B. Aldridge.  I've been searching for more information on this generation of Aldridges in Clark County.  They don't seem to be connected to the rest of the Aldridges in that county.  Is this the William B. Aldridge I've been looking for?  Why was the insulator found right on his grave?  I'd walked past it a couple of times.  Then, the insulation caught my attention.   Was it  serendipity?  Was it just a coincidence?  What caused this insulator to be on this particular grave?  In the cemetery that only had 2 marked graves....  I have no idea, but it happened.

If you Google "Serendipity Genealogy", there are hundreds of stories like mine.

Did William help me find him?  I believe so.  Is he *my* William?  I can't help but believe it is.  Obviously, more research needs to be done, but, regardless, this is yet another episode in the wonderful, frustrating hobby we all have.