Genealogy - Find Out Your Family"s History
Are you related to someone famous? You could be related to a member of royalty or a powerful political figure.
Perhaps you're related to a successful business person or a famous celebrity.
How would it feel to discover that you're related to Bill Gates, Brad Pitt or Oprah Winfrey? What if someone in your family ancestry was a leader of a rebellion or a hero in a war or the person responsible for discovering the cure for a disease? Can you imagine the excitement of discovering someone like this in your family history? What if you have a family history of heart disease or diabetes, but you didn't know it? These are all reasons to study your family history.
Thanks to the idea of "six degrees of separation" (made popular by playwright John Guare and again by actor, Kevin Bacon) which has taken the world by storm; it seems that we all want to find out how we are connected to one another.
In fact many people want to know just how many "degrees of separation" separate us from someone famous.
To find these things out, genealogy is one of the tools we can turn to for help.
To give you an idea of how genealogy helps us to learn how people are connected, consider this fact: President George W.
Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, is related to his 2004 Presidential candidate rival, Senator John Kerry! How are they related? They both share a common relative, Playboy magazine founder, Hugh Hefner, who is the ninth cousin of both men.
Do you see how interesting genealogy is yet? In spite of what you might think of today's "modern" generation with their high tech gadgets and seemingly decreased desire to meet people face-to-face and instead to meet online, there appears to be a growing interest in genealogy and family history.
Each person's interest in genealogy may be very different ranging from looking for a lost relative, hoping to discover an inheritance, or even looking for family health history.
Despite our many reasons, one thing we all have in common is that a lot of us are looking for our family history.
Let's clarify a bit about genealogy and family history.
Many people use these terms interchangeably, but they don't mean the same thing.
Genealogy, in the simplest terms, is the science of relationships - how one person is related to another by law or by blood (or both).
Family history takes the concept of genealogy and makes it more detailed.
When you research family history, you usually aren't only interested in how one person is related to another, but you're also interested in the stories of their lives.
Genealogists may also study those things as well, but their intent is not to learn the stories, but to learn the facts which may lead them to discover more relationships to other people.
If you're going to study your family history, you'll be interested to learn those things too! Genealogy research can be difficult and time consuming, as well as rewarding and even fun! (Remember that you may uncover some exciting, forgotten or unknown family history facts!) You may find that you feel like a detective or investigative reporter on the case of a mystery, determined to find the solution.
Where do you begin your genealogy and family history treasure hunt? Probably the best first place to start is with your immediate family, starting with yourself.
You will need to learn how to become an expert interviewer (don't worry - you can learn how to do this - I promise!).
Start with your aging relatives and ask a series of questions to them (write or record their answers).
Then, make trips to the public library or to research court document archives.
Don't forget to study any pictures, illustrations, and maps that you may find during your research.
Each of these can give you clues that will lead to your next big lead to follow.
Are you ready to begin your genealogy and family history treasure hunt? Why not start now? You may find yourself related to someone famous in history! You may find that you have an inheritance waiting for you from a long-lost relative.
Or you may discover an important piece of health information.
Either way, you have a lot of history to discover.
You better get started now!
Perhaps you're related to a successful business person or a famous celebrity.
How would it feel to discover that you're related to Bill Gates, Brad Pitt or Oprah Winfrey? What if someone in your family ancestry was a leader of a rebellion or a hero in a war or the person responsible for discovering the cure for a disease? Can you imagine the excitement of discovering someone like this in your family history? What if you have a family history of heart disease or diabetes, but you didn't know it? These are all reasons to study your family history.
Thanks to the idea of "six degrees of separation" (made popular by playwright John Guare and again by actor, Kevin Bacon) which has taken the world by storm; it seems that we all want to find out how we are connected to one another.
In fact many people want to know just how many "degrees of separation" separate us from someone famous.
To find these things out, genealogy is one of the tools we can turn to for help.
To give you an idea of how genealogy helps us to learn how people are connected, consider this fact: President George W.
Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, is related to his 2004 Presidential candidate rival, Senator John Kerry! How are they related? They both share a common relative, Playboy magazine founder, Hugh Hefner, who is the ninth cousin of both men.
Do you see how interesting genealogy is yet? In spite of what you might think of today's "modern" generation with their high tech gadgets and seemingly decreased desire to meet people face-to-face and instead to meet online, there appears to be a growing interest in genealogy and family history.
Each person's interest in genealogy may be very different ranging from looking for a lost relative, hoping to discover an inheritance, or even looking for family health history.
Despite our many reasons, one thing we all have in common is that a lot of us are looking for our family history.
Let's clarify a bit about genealogy and family history.
Many people use these terms interchangeably, but they don't mean the same thing.
Genealogy, in the simplest terms, is the science of relationships - how one person is related to another by law or by blood (or both).
Family history takes the concept of genealogy and makes it more detailed.
When you research family history, you usually aren't only interested in how one person is related to another, but you're also interested in the stories of their lives.
Genealogists may also study those things as well, but their intent is not to learn the stories, but to learn the facts which may lead them to discover more relationships to other people.
If you're going to study your family history, you'll be interested to learn those things too! Genealogy research can be difficult and time consuming, as well as rewarding and even fun! (Remember that you may uncover some exciting, forgotten or unknown family history facts!) You may find that you feel like a detective or investigative reporter on the case of a mystery, determined to find the solution.
Where do you begin your genealogy and family history treasure hunt? Probably the best first place to start is with your immediate family, starting with yourself.
You will need to learn how to become an expert interviewer (don't worry - you can learn how to do this - I promise!).
Start with your aging relatives and ask a series of questions to them (write or record their answers).
Then, make trips to the public library or to research court document archives.
Don't forget to study any pictures, illustrations, and maps that you may find during your research.
Each of these can give you clues that will lead to your next big lead to follow.
Are you ready to begin your genealogy and family history treasure hunt? Why not start now? You may find yourself related to someone famous in history! You may find that you have an inheritance waiting for you from a long-lost relative.
Or you may discover an important piece of health information.
Either way, you have a lot of history to discover.
You better get started now!
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