When my now husband learned that I enjoy doing genealogy as a hobby, he asked, “Why?”
At the time, I honestly didn’t have a good answer for him. I’ve always loved the history, finding out where my family came from, the research. The further I got into discovering my family tree, the more challenging the research has gotten. I’m now sixteen (16!!) years into my research, and the question my husband ask still rings true, “To what end?”
To Answer A Question
Some researchers have a specific question to answer as they conduct their research for genealogy such as,
- I’m adopted, who is my father?
- My parent was adopted, who was their parents?
- Where did my family come from?
- Are there any family health risks I should be aware of?
For some researchers, once they answer their question, they consider themselves done with their research. Other genealogists find additional questions they want to answer, and their search continues.
Discover Family Ethnicity
I have to admit, when I was thirteen years old, my genealogical research began trying to find out if my family really was Native American. Sixteen years later, I’m almost positive we’re not, at least in recent history. Interestingly enough, I’ve learned that my family has been in the United States for hundreds of years, except for a few recent immigrants. Even they immigrated from places like Germany, Norway, or Scotland, over a hundred years ago!
Other families might find more recent immigrations in their family. For example, my husband’s father’s grandparents were immigrants. In my post Long Lost Family I wrote about meeting some of this extended family in Den Haag (The Hague), in the Netherlands.
However, that DNA test can also help you find long lost relatives and help build your family tree, as mentioned in the LEEDS method.
Preserve History
Once of my first brick walls, or dead ends in genealogy, revolved a man that family claimed was adopted, and scandalously and OBVIOUSLY where our Native American heritage is inherited. (Hint: probably not Native American) To this day, this ancestor is STILL a brick wall. Why this frustrates me so much as a genealogist is that this man was literally my grandfather’s grandfather. From a small child to early teens, my grandfather was a stoic, stern man, until he passed away from cancer in the early 2000s. He had little time for a young girl asking questions about family long dead. Now that I’m older, and still stuck with this brick wall ancestor, I wish desperately that I had asked more questions and recorded more of his answers.
So many family stories are lost through the years because no one bothered to write anything down. While people make fun of millennial for taking too many pictures and documenting everything, the genealogist in me only hopes that all this information can be preserved in a useable way for posterity.
Family Health Risks
Unfortunately, breast cancer and heart disease seems to run in my family. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a “variant of unknown significance” on my BRCA2 gene, a gene where mutations tend to cause breast cancer. Due to a low number of people ever having my same mutation, genetic research labs won’t classify the mutation as a “real” mutation that causes cancer. They think it does, but they can’t say for sure due to the low number of people that are recorded to have it.
Many more people could get tested for genetic health risks if they knew for sure if health issues ran in their families. That’s the funny thing with genetics, is that not everyone will have symptoms, or something else will cover up those symptoms. However, by researching and documenting your family tree, including health risks, genetic research could be developed to prevent these health risks early.
Summary
There are many reasons that someone might research their family tree. Look out for future posts to help you get started with your own family tree, how to watch out for common mistakes new genealogists make, and where to find great, free resources to help you document your family tree. Leave me a comment to let me know why YOU do genealogy!