Does it matter to you about your family history?

Question

What difference does it make about family that lived 100 plus years ago

Answer 1

its an individual topic,each to their own,its their personal choice if they want to check back on their family history.

Answer 2

It's strange but, for some reason, the older you get, the more you want to know.

The trouble is that as you get older, the people who could have given you lots of information about your ancestors, have probably died themselves.

You can use public records or the internet to gain some knowledge but there's nothing like hearing the facts from the folk who knew the earlier family members.

The secret is - start enquiring young, while you still have people around to ask !

Answer 3

Does it matter? Maybe not, however it is very interesting.  As I get older it is fun to imagine my ancestors.  I grew up in a house built in 1965 by my g-g-g grandparents.  To most people it is just a big old house, but to me it is my family's house.  When I look at photos of my grandfather with his parents and grandmother on the front porch of "our" house it really matter to me.

My family took great pride in their heritage and when I look at my family tree I love to imagine what my ancestor's lives were like.

It doesn't make me richer monetarily it just makes me understand why families are so important.

Answer 4

Very much indeed, my maternal family can be traced back to the 1100s, I have a copy of the family tree on my wall.  My Cornish heritage is very important to me and my husband who is also from a very well documented Cornish family. We both have close relations who have written books on family members so I suppose we are very lucky.  Our children know who they are related to, and have been able to research quite easily their ancestors.

Answer 5

It is very important to me and my being. However, I am reluctant to search back too far for fear that I will find that my people were the last humans on earth to get up off of all fours and stand erect on their hind legs.

Answer 6

I expect it has more meaning for me because I was not raised with my family.  It is fun finding out about them and seeing who I look or act like.  I find it interesting.  Of course if we go back far enough we will see that we all come from Adam and Eve and the Creators hand.  Mmm

Answer 7

Not really, I would rather spend my time on those alive and with me now.

Answer 8

Your family's circumstances and attitudes make you what you are today. I have always been interested in the past, but unfortunately, as a child, didn't think to ask the questions I want to know the answers to today. Now my relatives are all dead, but reconstructing what happened all those years ago makes me feel close to them. I admit I'm nosey. I don't just want to know what happened, but why. There are some things I'll never find out, but I'll have fun trying!

Answer 9

Everyone here who answers regularly is interested in family history. We tend to be wise, warm, witty, well-read and devilishly handsome, but that is our nature, not a result of our research.

We don't think we are better than the rest of you, any more than avid golfers, fly fishermen, BMX bicycle racers, stamp collectors, Civil War re-enactors, nature photographers, joggers, marathon runners, chess players, cross-word puzzle aces . . . do.

It is a hobby. Nothing more, nothing less. It isn't for everybody. Fly fishing and sky-diving are not either. I could not spelunk to save my life; claustrophobia would kill me. Most young people think "fun research" is an oxymoron. Genealogy isn't for them. Anyone who tilts his nose up at you because he knows his lines back to 1700 and you don't is being snooty.

We do tend to lose patience (I do, at least. The other 9 are models of patience, tact and more patience. They are better looking than I am to boot) with 19-year olds who don't bother to read the resolved answers and ask where they can find teir "Family" crest, over and over again.

Ask a fisherman if it matters that he catch one on a dry fly, instead of buying one from a grocery store. Ask a rock climber if it matters how you get to the top - rope and pitons, or a helicopter.

Answer 10

It does cos it tells you about who you are and why you are the way you are.  In your past generations there are people who have similar characteristics to you.  You may think these characteristics are totally unique to you, but someone in your family history has the same thing. It also tells you about the journey your family took, the life they lived how you travel from one part of the country/world to another.  Its all a part of you and is a good legacy to past down to your children and be proud of.

Answer 11

All great answers!  Yes, of course it matters!  For me, it's the thrill of the chase and playing detective (and going into the closet and sobbing sometimes).  No one extremely well known or the like, but we are each part and parcel of those who came before us.  Often, I recognize myself, and am amazed at what I inherited.

Answer 12

yes of corse it does

Answer 13

It really doesn't "matter," but it is fun to know my roots.

For instance, I was always told my last name was French and research has proven it to be of Scottish descent.

A father and son were instrumental in the processing of steel back in the early to mid 1800's, in Scotland.

Another was a very prominent Hemotologist and Pathologist who has endowed several foundations for the research of Cancer.  He lived in NJ

It was my GreatGrandfather who emmigrated to the U.S. and settled in Trenton, NJ

I began researching about 10 years ago when our only Grandchild was born and I suddenly realized I didn't know anything about my heritage and I wanted him to know where he was "from."

Answer 14

I think it does... my partners family has had seven generations all living and working on the same land, it feels like if we sold that then its going against all those before us.  Farming is in his blood, and in our children's blood, and it is terribly important to me to keep up this tradition.

I find it bizarre that we can forget people, we may have a great grandmother that has our eyes or our nose, but we don't even know.

Answer 15

Your personality is a reflection in part of your family history, it makes your unique identity

Answer 16

yes it does matter cuz  u want to know were ur family came from.

Answer 17

Yes it matters to me what my origins were

Answer 18

When I was a child my parents took the time to tell us about generations gone past.  As a result of those conversations my children have a connection with their grand parents and great grand parents.

Some time in the future a new generation will ask questions about their ancestors.  I want to be able to pass on the information I’ve found, not just the names and dates but stories that keep them alive in our memories.  You have a kind of immortality as long as you’re remembered.

Answer 19

To many people it doesn't, it is all down to personal choices as with many subjects. However, as an adopted person, and also my husband being adopted, it is very important to us.

Because of the research I have have done we have found where and how our personal traits, abilities,and interests have come from.

Its amazing how many various skills and occupations have followed through time, some of which both myself and my husband have inherited. On my husbands side there is a great line of engineers coming through the generations, with mine there is an artistic line.Both of which we have inherited.

Its funny too how family in the past have, unbeknown to me migrated and lived in parts of the UK that I / we have lived without us ever knowing. Whether their reasons for moving to various areas are similar to ours,we shall never know.

Only people with a thirst for history, and anthropology will say it matters about your family history.

Answer 20

As the Ellis Island Foundation says:

"If you don't keep their names alive ..................

.............who will?"

Answer 21

Yes....it's in the blood. Plus I am nosey....I WANT to know what my Ancestors were doing 100, 200 or 300 yrs ago. Is that wrong? -x-

Answer 22

Yes very much so. I spend hours doing my research, I just have this desire to know where my roots were set.