Credit: Nebraskahistory.org
In the past few days I have been thinking a lot about this particular topic. I think what prompted this was over the years how many people have asked me the question: Are you Mormon? I am not, if none of you had noticed.
I find sometimes it bothers me when I am asked that and when they learn I am not (not all have done this) it is not understood then why I would pursue learning about my family history or even my husband’s.
I have been a lover of history since I was a small child. I do not think anyone in my family can deny that! Learning about the lives of those before me and what they lived through intrigued me. So, it was only natural after learning about my biological grandfather was not who I thought it was I felt I needed to know the truth. History as I wrote in my Ancestry.com profile is a mystery; always open-ended and never truly solved.
And even learning of my grandfather (my mom’s biological father) has been a heavy task, many documents I am unable to view because of the census no being available and with us knowing almost little of him or his family he is was becoming more like the Loch Ness (him and my great-great-great-uncle, who is my great-grandmother’s uncle who died in WWI I cannot find anything on him).
It has been a lot easier since the 1940s Census came along where I could try to find the names of great-grandparents, which in fact I did and how interesting it was to see their names. It was more interesting of how more of a mystery they became to me and how I wished I could travel to North Dakota and actual visit their historical centers. (Alas I do not have that type of cash on hand.)
Another question that tends to come up with my love of learning my family history is: what would I do with the information I found? Well, I normally dig deeper into the documents I find myself piecing together the story of that one person’s life or how they fit into my line.
Also, I tend to sink in what I know and sit there and say, ‘you come these people who did all this’ and I only realize how much they went through and how much this day and age we complain of how tough it is. It gave me that sense of ‘good pride’ knowing I come from a group of people who gave it their all to take care of their families. But, it sinks in that my family have flaws and such are inherited with each generation, learning those traits I can see where and why they came to be not because of the society they were in but the way their family raised them.
Finally learning of my family tree I get a better idea of American History (which I focus on mainly and hope to keep as a focus when I return to college in the future). They are the pieces of how the United States was formed in the big pieces or even the tiniest of grains. And I find that the most interesting of it all.
I guess you could say that is the end of my rant/thought process.
Source:
http://dianajordanop3.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/family-trees/