Why Are You Doing This Research??



Are you motivated to truly put the time and effort into learning your family history? Yes, it does take work and can not be done in a few days.

So here are a few points to help keep you sincerely impelled to do the best research you can.

Answer the personal question – who are you and how did you get here? It is only by learning about your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc that you start to understand how come you grew up in New York, or have red hair, or love to create wooden products. These are just examples of some of the abilities, physical appearances and skills we gained from our ancestors.

How did you get your name, given or surname? For a family name you were born with it but was it always spelled that same way? Your first and middle name, might there have been a relative with that same name?

Those family heirlooms, who had them? Everyone will usually have some item that once belonged to a relative. It is like having a token of their life. So you will want to know more about that individual’s life.

Related to a notable person or did a relative do something notable? Everyone loves to think they have a celebrity in their family tree. Not everyone will, but you can still have a relative who did some outstanding achievements. I found in my research (using vintage newspaper articles), my great granduncle as a Washington, DC police officer prevented President Woodrow Wilson from being run over by a speeding vehicle in late 1913. You just never know what some of your ancestors may have done until you investigate. 

A very practical reason for researching is to learn of illnesses and causes of death for your ancestors. Now sometimes that can be quite difficult because medicine was not very advanced decades ago. However, there are physical conditions and diseases that can be learned about and do add that to your own personal medical history.

Finally, if an individual is remembered, even years later, they in a sense are immortal. So keep the memory, the life and times of various family members alive by doing complete research.

Photos: You are the result of a thousand loves; the best loved stories; we all come from immigrates; and building the family tree.

Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

Why Work on a Family Tree?

Basic Ideas when doing Research

Stay on Track

< Return To Blog Regarding the text above relating to ancestors being remembered, did you mean that they would be 'immortal' rather than 'immoral'? :)
El 23/03/17


You need to reread that last paragraph. Quite sure it is a big misprint.
Dpeters 23/03/17


It is corrected now--thank you.
alice 23/03/17


Thank you -- it is corrected now.
alice 23/03/17




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