Why is geneology important to people?

Question

I'm interested to find out why people are so concerned with where they came from as opposed to where they're going.

Is it about establishing a mystic connection with the dead?

Is it about dwelling in the past?

For what it's worth, I come from a multi-ethnic family. My mother's side came from Poland, Russia, and Romania. My father's side came from Guyana (the former British Colony).

If I took an interest in geneaology, I'd end up finding a ton of Halocaust and slavery victims.

When I say dwelling in the past, this is what I mean. I don't think I'd find anything that resembles embarrassing family 'pardon me's'... Having such a rich geneaology of pain, makes me wonder what it must have been like for those who have interesting histories over suffering and torture... hence, this is why I say dwell in the past...

Answer 1

I think it's for a sense of belonging. I personally think it's stupid to want to categorize yourself like that. It doesn't matter. You said it right; worry about where you're going, not where you started. But I think a lot of people, if they're not satisfied with themselves, brag about what their ancestors have been through. Or if they're in a bad place, they might blame what their ancestors have gone through or think they're owed something because of what happened to their ancestors (like the black reparations debate).

I think it's just kind of fun to know where you came from, but it doesn't really matter that much. Be yourself, not your genes.

Answer 2

It is like working a puzzle. You work on one family line,come to a brickwall, put it aside and work on another for awhile.

You have to take the good with the bad. It is often said in genealogy that the grandson wants to remember what the son wanted to forget.

However, many things that were probably embarassing to a person's family at the time are funny when people look back on them.

I was looking at some old North Carolina records once and saw where one fella was caught stealing from the royal governor's beehive. At the time the family was probably humiliated but his descendants finding that information 300 years later probably gets a good laugh.

Answer 3

We are such complex beings. We are curious, not only of the future, but of the past. Where do we come from? How does that affect me now? In doing my own research, I gained a deeper understanding of my own father and how he became the person he was, and how that shaped me into the person I am. How can you know where you are going if you don't know where you came from? It is not about dwelling in the past, it is about learning how you got to here.

Answer 4

It is like bird watching for me; a harmless hobby with the thrill of a (slow) chase and elements of a detective story. It's also the closest most of us will ever get to a personal slice of history. If you are an American with European roots, someone in your tree probably fought in a war, stole land from the Indians, or came through Ellis Island with nothing more than a packet of clothes and the determination that their children would breathe free.

When I record a wedding in the backwoods of Virginia in 1803, I wonder - what it was like? Was it a solemn occasion with a stern Methodist circuit preacher, or did someone play the fiddle for people to dance on the hard packed dirt between the house and the barn? What was it like for that 20-year old man, expected to provide for his 16-year old wife with plow, musket and axe?

A child is born in 1867 and dies in 1868; I thank the Lord that we have vaccines and antibiotics now.

Someone comes over from Europe in 1754 with his family; I wonder if he called them to the rail of the ship early one morning, as the rising sun gradually unveiled a new continent, and said, "Look! There it is, America! No one can step on you now just because you are a Huguenot." (Mennonite, Anabaptist, Italian, Irishman, Pole, Protestant, Catholic, Jew . . .)

Answer 5

It isn't dwelling in the past because it's not a part of "our" past, it's what our family went through. To me, dwelling in the past is when a person dwells on what they could have done or should have done or wished they had done.

There isn't any "mystic" connection with the dead because once a person dies, their spirit is no longer on this earth and there is no connecting to them.

Genealogy is one's family history and it's interesting to see what our family went through, to learn what kind of people they were as they worked hard to make it through each day and to see some of the areas they lived in. When you get into the hills of VA or elsewhere, you try to imagine what it was like when the family came over in wagons or on their horse, traveling for days to get to where they settled down in a country where they were many times alone and didn't know if they might be attacked by the Indians.

It's a puzzle that goes on and on and it's fun to travel and meet people and see where the family lived, walked and worked. Everyone has an interest in something, some of us just love genealogy because it connects with us in some way.

My 5th gr-grandfather built a house in 1795 that is still standing and people still live in it. It was an amazing feeling to go there and see something he built when he was 18, 5 years before he married. To think he cleared the land, farmed it and built the house and reared his family in that beautiful area where few people live even today. He left his wife and some of his kids there when he fought in the War of 1812 and then returned when the war was over. He built a house down the road for one of his sons and it is still standing.

Houses back then weren't built like they are today so it's fascinating to look at that and wonder how he did it and who might have helped him. It's hard to imagine that area before all the trees were cut down ~ by him ~ in order for him to farm and live there. How smart they were to do what they did without all the technology people have today. It is just a fascinating and fun thing to do as your family slowly comes to life a little at a time.

Just like others like to go to ball games or someone else may like to fish, I love genealogy and learning about my family.

Answer 6

Because we want to know who we are and where we come from. Want to know why we do the things we do, who in our family is famous, or started a town, had a place named after their family members.

Answer 7

It's turned into a sort of interactive online scavenger hunt where one clue leads you to the next and every so often you have to get out On Adventure.

Answer 8

Most people want to know their origin.