Do you love genealogy, family history, learning about your ancestors’ lives? (me too!) Do you love to travel – see new places, learn about historic events, walk where your ancestors walked? (me too!) Can you combine them together? YES! Can you make it Fun and Interesting for others who are with you? YES! Is it worth it? Definitely YES!
We can usually find the places of origin for our close relatives. Visit the homestead, Identify the church they attended. Find their stone in the local cemetery (or perhaps in a secluded area on their property!). Places are familiar. Family stories are shared with cousins and extended family members as recent memories. Photos show these special places in by gone days – hopefully with all the people identified!
But what about the generations before them? What about the ancestors and extended family members who aren’t remembered, who aren’t in living memory? whose stories didn’t get passed down to the next generations. Those who are forgotten, who took different paths, perhaps moving their entire branch of the family to a totally different area. It only takes a generation or two to lose contact with those distant cousins, and especially when their children have never known you.
When extended family members move farther apart, memories fade, stories are lost, photos show unfamiliar places and people. Those who stay in their ancestral locations are surrounded by their history, and those who carry on the stories. They can tell you about their ancestry, because they have lived it, grown up in it. Not everyone has that privilege. So many have lost touch with their forgotten heritage. It wasn’t passed down to the next generations.
By researching our family history and building those valuable pedigree charts of our ancestors, we are restoring our forgotten heritage. Remember, it’s not lost, but only forgotten. The thrill of genealogy is rediscovering those forgotten pieces. They fill in the gaps as the whole picture of our heritage is being revealed. The puzzle pieces start to fall into place, making sense of misunderstood mysteries and identify traditions carried down without the stories behind them.
Travelling back to locations where our ancestors lived is so exciting, so rewarding. Sharing those experiences with our family members helps “history” come alive! Because it’s not just history – it’s OUR history. OUR ancestors took part in this community, in this church, in this historic event. How tragic to lose touch with those memories! Our passion as family researchers is to connect with those ancestors and learn about their involvement in historic events. It’s not just finding the written records, it’s rediscovering a part of our heritage, AND sharing it with our family – making sure it is remembered and passed down to the next generations.
So, as you are planning your summer vacations, be sure to include stops along the way to make those connections to your heritage. Always include genealogy – but make it FUN!
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