?Are you going to find your family tree? was a query I?ve been asked more often than once. Social History has always been an interest of mine and it looked like a logical way to explore it, although it was something I had intended to do one day in the far off future when I retire. I also knew that once I started it might become an all consuming hobby because that is the way I generally am. Things altered a little in the family and we decided that this was time to make a start while we could still access the memories of elderly family and relatives. There had been a family puzzle that lots of relations had an interest in resolving and the simple way to do that was to research the family tree. It?s an straightforward process to start, there are lots of online resources to help find your family tree. In my case there has been an added bonus that was totally unexpected ?finding myself.
The more folk I talk to about family history, the more I find that this is correct. One thing you can be completely certain about is that you will find mysteries and maybe even solve one or two of them. You?ll find Black Sheep, Saints, Sinners and Heroes scattered around the branches of your family tree and every one of them will have their own unique charm. You?ll also find a lot of surprises, in my case a brother and sister that I didn?t know I had, which shook my perceptions of my family to the core and made me re-appraise much of what I thought about them and about myself. Viewing yourself as the ?eldest ? is very different to viewing yourself as ?the youngest but one ?!
There are things far less obvious than those which can sometimes be explained simply by genetics, for instance I?ve always been a Needlewoman. I?ve a strong creative drive which shows itself by needlework, embroidery, lacemaking and such like, but I never knew where it came from. My Mother may actually about know one end of a needle from the other, but I would not bet on it so I was always at a complete loss to find out why thread and fabric were so important to me. Knowing hardly any of my paternal family I was astonished to discover that my family tree on that side was populated by generations of women who were Seamstresses and Tailoresses. It gave me a feeling of belonging that I had never experienced before, and had never anticipated.
Both these things were deeply personal to me, and when you find your family tree, no doubt you will find things that may affect you in the same way and it has a great effect on how you view the events of history. War is a frightful thing and I have been lucky that it has never touched me personally but that changed lately. The killings of the first World War has always caused me unhappiness but it was really impersonal, simply a moral duty. A couple of months ago I became aware that 2 remote cousins, brothers from a little hamlet in the countryside of Suffolk died in the mud of Flanders, and another cousin died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. ? he was only 19. It quickly became very personal for me, even writing this I have tears in my eyes for the loss their family, my family, suffered. It has all of a sudden become dreadfully personal.
These are just a few examples demonstrating how the journey to find your family tree can change you and help you to discover things about yourself you never knew. For me it?s been a positive experience as it has for the majority of the people I know. Have I discovered the puzzle that set us off on this journey ? not yet , but I?m still working on it!
Tricia Smith is an expereinced family history researcher providing info showing how to find your family tree, providing help and guidance on family tree research and problem solving.
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