This past Christmas, my brother asked me for one simple gift: a subscription to Ancestry.com to help build our family tree. With both of our parents and one of our uncles on our Dad’s side already gone, it was a way my brother felt like he could fill the blanks in between what our parents told us about our Mom and Dad’s families. This summer you can start a cool project by yourself or with your kids to discover more about your family by building your family tree!
Finding Family
A lot of us have a sense of wonder about our ancestors. I know at least for me, my great-grandfather came over from Cork, Ireland during the Famine to start a new life here in America. My mother’s father was a mathematician at MIT (which totally doesn’t explain why I’m horrible at math!), and was in the Navy. With the wealth of resources online, I can find scraps here and there of the family who brought my brother and me to the point we are now. It’s really exciting to find the names of people whose blood runs through you! During a free search on Ancestry, I found out that my great-grandmother’s name was Emma. I felt a pang in my heart just looking at the census scan!
Growing Your Tree
While it may not be in your budget to get a subscription to Ancestry.com (or even a DNA test), there are other ways you can find out about your family. Of course, interviewing living family members to get names and places of birth can get you on the right path to finding more of your family to add to your tree. (Plus it’s always a good thing when the elders in our families share stories about how they grew up and what it was like when they were little.) In America, the U.S. Government has their census archives up over at http://www.archives.gov/ in an easy-to-search database. There, you can find census, veteran service records, and even pictures. You never know what you might find!
Adding to your family’s story is a wonderful way to honor your ancestors and even add to your own personal history. You might be surprised what you’ll find about your family out there. Happy hunting!
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