Why do Family History Research ?
If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. – Michael Crichton.
Family Connections and Roots
Why research your family history? The family creates connections and roots. Doing family history helps us be strong and overcome adversity by learning from our ancestors. We feel a sense of belonging. Our family helps shape who we are and can influence who we become. Many stories have been written of the difference made in someone’s life to discover their lost family. However, these are only a few reasons why we do family history research.
Importance of family roots
Recently, I watched an episode of Dateline about Pepper Smith and her sister who were kidnapped by their babysitter. Many years passed before they reunited with their mother until years later. Eventually, DNA proved their identity and family relationship. Then, as I watched the reunion of the little family, first with their mother and then later with a brother they didn’t know existed, I pondered the significance of family. In our world today, many people disparage the importance of family. Yet, here these people hugged each other as strangers. All of them cried as they discovered they had a family, and family creates connections and roots. So, if the family isn’t important, what made them happy to be reunited?
Creating and Building your Family Tree – Connecting roots
Ask yourself questions to build your family tree and discover your roots, such as, Who were your grandparents? What struggles did they experience? And your great-grandparents? Who were they? Did they suffer from World Wars or other wars? Did they serve their country? The records available may tell some of the stories. Of course, we can’t discover everything from the records, but we can learn some.
Importance of Census Records
For example, census records help us discover family relationships. If you know a little about your relative, you may find them in the census. Therefore, learn the names of parents, children, and siblings, as well as, any places they may have lived. This will help you match them in the census. The record may help you learn where your ancestor was born and approximately when they were born. Some census records indicate occupation, how long they were married, how many children the mother had, and how many were still living when the census was taken, as well as immigration dates.
Other helpful records
Similarly, other records may help fill in the gaps. In my small town, a lady wrote a column for the newspaper telling the news of the town. To my surprise, I followed my own visits coming back home from college. So, you can find, death notices, notices of accidents, marriage celebrations, and birth notices may be discovered in the newspapers from the area where your ancestor lived. Newspapers.com covers many different newspapers and works well as a finding aid. I love using Newspapers.com when I do family history research.
Personal discovery through your Ancestors
How does this help you in your life? So, what if you discover your great-grandfather went off to serve in World War II at the age of 17? He lied about his age to serve his country, and then, he came home with a purple heart. How would this make you feel? Certainly, his courage could help you face your own challenges. However, what if you discover your great-grandfather served a few years in prison for stealing a car? Does this bring shame or justify your bad actions? No, we accept our family with all their faults. Just as we can learn from our ancestor’s successes, we can learn from their mistakes. Likewise, we learn to accept and forgive people and learn from what we discover to help us become better. We may find how they recovered and moved on in difficult situations.
What to do first?
To sum up, where you begin your journey, here are some steps you may follow:
Step 1: Firstly, gather your family history related documents. If you don’t own any historical documents for your family, ask your relatives. They may be able to help you. On the other hand, you don’t always need documents to get started. Many documents may be found online.
Step 2: Secondly, interview any living relative about your ancestors.
Learn all you can about family stories, relatives, siblings, children, etc. The more you know the easier it is to discover documents about your family, especially if you have a common last name. For instance, many family naming traditions used the same name. As a result, you may find many people with the same name. Knowing dates and places, siblings and stories will help you discover which of the many “John Smith’s” or “John Johnson” belongs to your family.
Step 3. Thirdly, choose a Family Tree program, online or for desktop.
Using an online tree, like Familysearch.org, may help you collaborate with others building trees along your ancestral line and help you discover more relatives. In addition, using a desktop program helps you keep your personal research safe. (More about this will be covered in a future blog post.)
Step 4. Begin and have fun. In other words, create your family connections by finding your roots.
In conclusion, beginning to research your family history may change the way you see your family. Happy New Year! May 2021 be filled with Love and Joy and, above all, may you discover your reason why you do family history research.
“To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.” -Chinese proverb