 | Family Tree |
 |
|
The older I get the more I wonder about who my ancestors were and where I came from. In a relatively culture free America, I wondered if there are traditions Albert that I identify with the deep down. Like many Americans my ancestors came from all over the globe. For all intents and purposes I am a European mutt. Even my last name is comprised of two different languages. In all this movement and mixing I have to wonder who I really am.
Thankfully I have more than one relative who is fascinated by genealogy. Several of my aunts have been studying records and building our family tree for several decades. Thanks to all of their work I can look back over many generations to see where my family came from and how they came to be in America. If you go back far enough you can even find a United States President in my family tree. No bragging intended, of course.
If you want to know more about your ancestors, building a family tree is a great way to get those answers. There are many public records available that can help you begin to build your family tree. Birth, death, and marriage records are a great place to start. You may even think about trying one of the many web sites out there that can help you build a family tree. Genealogy.com is one of the most popular sites for this purpose. You may be surprised that somebody else is already out there building the tree for you.
Other popular web sites include familytreemaker.com and ancestry.com. These web sites are used by millions of people trying to build their own family tree. They also contain an endless amount of records that you can pour through to see if your ancestors are included. You may even find a detailed family tree out there with your name on it.
Knowing who you are and where you came from can be an amazing gift. Many people do not know who their ancestors are and are unable to put together a complete ancestral history for themselves. Knowing how your family came to be in this country and where their ancestors lived before can open up a whole new world for you. We live in an amazing age of technology in which so much information is readily available for our use. Hopefully we can all use it to gain a better sense of who we really are and why.
Copyright 2007
Advice
|
