Family Ancestry

Remember the popular line from The Sixth Sense? “I see dead people,” was the little boy’s declaration to Bruce Willis. Well, if you are interested in family ancestry you could say that you like to look for dead people, right?

Family ancestry is quickly becoming one of the most popular online hobbies. It’s interesting to find out the meaning of your last name or find out where your family came from. Even though many Americans view immigration as a problem, all of our ancestors immigrated to the United States at some time in their lives.

Many of our ancestors had the desire for a better life. Maybe they were thinking just about their immediate family at the time. Some of them may have thought about how future generations would be blessed because of their decision to come to America.

One of the ways that I learned more about my family ancestry was by talking to my grandmother. She had so much information about my family. She was born in 1919. It was fun to hear stories about when she was a little girl.

She taught school in a one room school house on the Snake River in Idaho. While my grandfather served in the armed forces, she built airplanes for Boeing. She was like Rosie the Riveter! If my grandmother had not told me these stories herself, I don’t know that I would have believed them!

There are a variety of ways for you to keep your family ancestry alive if you prefer not to do genealogy research. Consider keeping a journal. Record the events of your days, your thoughts and feelings about life, etc. Those journals might become a valuable resource to future generations.

Another way to do family history work is to take pictures. Make sure to catalog your pictures and label them. It’s nice to find old pictures, but even nicer to know who you are looking at!