The Roots of a Family Tree begin with the Love of Two Hearts.
~ Unknown
I have spent numerous hours journeying into the past, researching mine and my husband’s family tree. Doing this research about our ancestors and collateral relatives has given us a lot of fascinating and inciteful information. It has helped us to learn new things about our families and confirm some information we already knew. Our journey has re-connected us with family we lost touch with and introduced us to new family.
The key is finding the right pieces to connect.
The many twists and turns among the family branches can sometimes make the research feel a little like trying to find your way through a labyrinth. It can all be a little confusing and it doesn’t help that not all information you find is accurate. My research has consisted of personal knowledge, using various websites, books, documents, and DNA tests to connect the right pieces.
Unfortunately, when there are people with the same or similar names sometimes the wrong documentation can get attributed to the person you are researching. Another tricky issue can be spellings of names, which can vary depending on who was documenting things. Consequently, I sometimes need to do additional research to verify the information. As new information is brought to light the tree is added to or changed.
Learning about the past is not always easy.
We have learned about the places they have lived, jobs they have had, achievements they have made, and the struggles and losses they endured. Some ancestors came from money and were born into high society. Others were born poor and worked their up in the societal ranks. And then some stayed poor their whole lives.
Without all of our ancestors, no matter who they were and what they did, we would not exist.
Have you created a family tree or taken a DNA test? What have you learned? Have you been surprised been any of your results?
Share your stories in the comments below…can’t wait to hear from you!
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This was an interesting post. I have thought about tracing my heritage back, but I already know the spelling of our last name changed like 3 times when we came over from Europe. It still would be interesting. What DNA tests have you found to be the most accurate in your search?
Thank you for commenting, Patricia. Spelling changes have definitely made for an interesting challenge in my search. Every time I come across a new spelling I make a note so that I can be looking for it when researching further. DNA testing has definitely helped to piece together a number of the branches, especially on ones I was unsure of or had a brick wall I was having trouble breaking through. I purchased both the Ancestry and 23 & Me DNA kits, as I was interested in seeing what I would find. I then uploaded the results from those to other sites I use for research like My Heritage, WikiTree, Gedmatch, and some others. For connecting with others I have liked both kits and it’s interesting to see the differences they may show on where your DNA roots are from. Those numbers aren’t completely accurate, but still interesting. As far as searching for records and creating a family tree, I prefer the Ancestry test as their site is connected to research documents and is much more user-friendly for tree building.
Great post! My mom has been digging into family trees and found some info she was surprised to learn but never would have ever known if she didn’t do this. She wants me to take it over when she is no longer able to keep it up.
Thanks for reading, Kristin. It is amazing how much information you can find out when you start looking. You definitely need to go into it with an open mind and heart. We have definitely had some surprises. I am hoping that my kids will eventually want to take over for me someday as well. Happy searching!
Very cool ☺️ My grandmother did a lot of research on our family before the internet was a thing. I was lucky that she passed down all of her work to me!
That’s awesome that your grandmother did a lot of research and passed it on to you. I wish I had taken notes when I was younger and would talk to my grandparents about our family history. Now I am trying to sort through old photos and figure out who everyone is.