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Why I Care About My Family
History
In June of 2006, I
started working on the lineage of my family. It was a spontaneous
decision based upon seeing one of those advertisements on a web site
about Ancestry.com. I thought to myself, "How easy can
researching my family's history be, all on the internet!" Oh, how
little I knew! While there is a vast availability of census,
military, marriage, and death records on the internet (at a monthly
cost, of course), the greatest amount of my time has been spent looking
through death certificates that I request via postal mail,
communicating with newfound cousins and sharing information, looking
through my grandparents' files and recording their stories, and
recently - visiting county clerk offices to sift through old records.
My interest started because I just wanted to see how easily I could discover the family lineage. My paternal grandfather also did a lot of family lineage research, so it was easy to combine what he already discovered into my work. My interest continues for two reasons. First, tracing my lineage through my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and beyond never seems to stop. It is like one massive detective mystery - when I find one answer to a question, two more questions emerge from that answer. For every step of my research, I start with what I know. Then there is a lengthy search process - combing through records to find the one I'm looking for. And hopefully the thrill and satisfaction of finding what I'm looking for. To put it simply, it's an addictive never-ending process. Secondly, there is a spiritual component to this whole process for me. My personal faith incorporates the idea that chance encounters are major factors in our lives. You might do something or meet someone in a way that's new to your daily routine. That chance encounter can affect how you live the rest of your life, whether you know it or not. You know what I'm talking about - particularly those love stories (how she met him, and if they didn't meet at that particular moment, they would never have married). It doesn't have to be about love, but you get my point. But imagine - think about how your parents met. Without them, you would not exist. Think about each of your grandparents met. Without them, again you would not exist. Think about how your great-grandparents met. Wow - if any one of those four relationships didn't occur, you wouldn't exist - at least not as you are! I find that absolutely amazing and mind-boggling. I also believe that by research my lineage, it is my way of respecting history, respecting the people that directly contributed to my existence, and respecting life in general. That's why I continue to care about my family history, constantly pursuing my past. Yours truly, Michael Goodhart April 10, 2007 |
Copyright 2007, Michael Tyler Goodhart All rights reserved  |
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