Need Motivation—Reasons to Do Your Family History
Genealogy can be a hobby, a curiosity or something much more – and there are lots of reasons why people decide to investigate their own histories and ancestors. Here are a few motivational ideas.
There might be a distribution of an ancestor’s estate in the future and you may need to prove lineage.
Anniversaries of major historical events; such as the end of World War One, first election of Franklin Roosevelt, assassination of President John F. Kennedy; or man landing on the moon. It is great to add which ancestors were living during these major events and maybe how they were involved, especially those who served during a war.
Finding out about your ancestors’ health can be a big benefit to you and your family. Diseases such as glaucoma and Alzheimer’s can be inherited.
Your given name may have been the given name of a relative decades ago. Curiosity might drive you to find out more about this person – where they lived, what they did, when they died and more.
Maybe you have come across or were given a letter or diary from a relative. You have read it over many times but until you really research and learn more about that ancestor will their writings truly become clearer.
Keeping the memory of an ancestor by researching their life makes them live on. You could learn about certain skills or interests they had that now another person in the family today possesses. A good example is a talent to play a musical instrument or an ancestor was very good at sports and so is a youngster in the family today. That can be one of the most motivating concepts, seeing that certain traits do get handed down over the generations even if the individuals never met.
Photos: Musical talent; Children; diary; and shared given names.
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