Why I Do Family History

I have been doing family history for about 20 years.  I started when I was a teenager.  In the winter time my family would spend a lot of time at my Grandpa and Grandma's house.  As a teenager I didn't find much at their house that was terribly entertaining.  I did love to read and soon discovered that my Grandma had a file that contained histories of her ancestors.  I enjoyed reading the stories of these amazing people.  At the same time I discovered that there was also a file that contained pedigree charts and family group sheets.   I learned to use these charts to help me figure out how the people I was reading about were related to me.

            When most people think of family history they think of charts filled with names and dates and places.  Some think of older individuals spending hours at a microfilm reader trying to make out difficult to read hand writing.  I have to tell you that those things are a part of family history but it is only part of it.  Family history is about people.  It is about people we are personally connected to. 

            Sometimes as I'm doing research I think how blessed I am to know my grandparents.  They have had an influence on my life.  My Grandparents knew their grandparents and I know their Grandparents had an influence on their lives.  I've heard all four of my grandparents talk about their grandparents and memories they have that became a part of their lives and who they are.  So indirectly my great, great, grandparents have had an influence in my life.  I can see this going back for generations.  For me this is family history.

            When most people do family history they focus on researching their direct ancestors.  This is good and should usually be done first.  In the 1980's and 90's the church stressed completing your 4 generation pedigree chart.  In the last few years they have been talking more about descendantcy research.  You may remember a general conference talk about the low hanging fruit.  I do a lot of this kind of research. 

            I think of my aunts, uncle and cousins that are a part of my life.  They are my family.  I realize that my ancestors have aunts, uncles and cousins that were a part of their lives too.  They want them to be a part of their family as well.  This is one of the main reasons I do descendantcy research.  These people are family too.

            I realize there are many ways people can participate in family history.  Spending hours at a computer, or microfilm reader or pouring over books and charts isn't possible for everyone.  Taking pictures, scrap-booking, keeping a journal or a blog, asking a relative questions about their life, telling children and grandchildren stories about your life, scanning documents and pictures, indexing and slowly writing your own history are all part of family history.  Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something.