Why is knowing our ancestry important?

Question

why do you think knowing your personal ancestry is important and or interesting? what meaning or significance does it have on your life?

and I mean ancestry not just great grandparents.....

Answer 1

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are curious about their far off ancestors, and those who are not.

I have always loved history and feel a real connection with the past.

My sister, on the other hand , just sort of rolls her eyes and says "That's nice."

She takes trips to Arizona and I take trips to the past.

Answer 2

you don't know what ancestries you could have in you i don't know what ancestries i could have in me

Answer 3

Knowing mine has really made me very interested in history because now I can personally connect my family to historical events and people.  Some of my family knew famous people.  Some of my family were famous people.  Some fought in the civil war, some in the revolutionary war.  Some fought in the crusades.  Some were white from all the different European countries.  Some were black from Africa.  Some were Native American.  Some were farmers.  Some were royalty.  Some were cannonized as Saints.  Some were government figures that wrote the laws and some were famous outlaws.

Each of us has hundreds of thousands of ancestors.  Each and every one of mine had to exist in order for me to be here.  If ONE of my ancestors even 1000 years ago had a child with someone different, then EVERY person from that point till now on my family tree would be different, and I would not be here today.  It took thousands and thousands of years of people having children with the right person at the right time to get to my existance.  Also, when you think of the notable and famous people in your ancestry, you have to realize that you have their genes in you.....that you could not exist if not for that person; that you can call so-and-so your 5th or 10th or 18th (or however many) great-grandfather or grandmother.

It is really cool when you are a student in school and you study someone famous, and know that they are your ancestor.  I only wish I knew in school when I was taking history what I know now.  Histroy class would have been a lot more fun and interesting if I could have connected myself and my family to it, and know that I was related to so-and-so or that my ancestor did such-and-such or was at a certain place during a historical moment.

Answer 4

My father was in the Navy and I moved around alot. I wasn't near my relatives, except to visit but even then I heard stories of past ancestors.  I heard one side held the horses for the James Gang. I heard we had indian background but it wasn't good to claim it or talk about it.  Just different things.

So later when my husband retired from the Army we moved to where my family had lived.  I moved onto land that was my father's dad's land.

Then I heard more stories, like 2 brothers (from my mother's side) came from Georgia  in 1879 and bought land, the land I was living on that my dad's side had bought and that I was now living on.

The internet became available to all and I put in our last name and found a group searching this last name and with there passion, I became hooked.  It's the search that had me facinated.

Then I remembered the stories and I wanted to prove or disprove them, and the secrets and mysteries.  And as I researched I learned more about the hardships and struggles of those that came before me. I went down the road to the community cemetery and took a survey of those buried there. 90% of them, I found were related to me.

It's learning that my grgrgrgrandfather left the house and didn't want to come back but he had to, for one more visit, to get his clothes. When he did mygrgrgrgrandmother beat the c**p out of him and he never tried to leave again:)  It's the two brothers that came from GA and hid in a chest in the wagon on the way and finding that their wives were cousins and their mothers-in-law were half sisters and they all moved to Texas because one of the relatives had killed a bootlegger in GA and they had to move out fast.  It's learning that my distant grandfather in the civil war had to wear grape leaves as shoes and that he was such a good calvaryman that he was given his horse when he was discharged.

I found that one of my distant grandmothers was as the Battle of the Alamo  and that her husband and her brother died there and their names are on the plaque.  Later she married who became my distant grandfather.  I read the civil war and revolutionary war pension applications, saw the old photos and the old graves.

These people are a part of me, are where my heritage comes from.  I love the outlaws as much as the rest.

So for me, trying to know these people who came before me helps me know myself as I have certain traits from them. I'm on the land that they tamed.  And it's the search, which I love, and finding new stories or proving/disproving the old ones.

And it's the other relatives that ask me about stories they've heard and I can tell them yes or no on whether it's right.

It's been a great hobby for me.

Answer 5

The answeer is simple: it is your family history. Without knowing it, you are a lost person, like one having amnesia.

Answer 6

I'm a curious person by nature (I always ask lots of questions).  Either you're interested or you're not, we can't persuade you either way.

To me, learning about my family's history is fascinating, and makes me feel like I know where I came from.  It's like a giant puzzle with clues on how to put all the pieces together.  I love learning what my ancestors' occupations were, and hearing oral histories about them, and imagining what their lives must have been like.

It's fun to connect with distant cousins who are also researching a branch of my family's tree (one of those cousins actually had a photograph of my ggg grandparents in Norway, we had no idea that a photo of them even existed!)

Genealogy is quite the topic at family reunions and other family get-togethers, and this hobby has reconnected me with several long-lost relatives.

Finally, the research I'm doing on my ancestors and my husband's ancestors will be a wonderful gift to our son.  He won't ever have to wonder where he came from at all!