The saying that “you don’t know who you are until you know where you came from” holds true for a lot of people. You will discover that as you start researching your family tree you will find out what your ancestors had to go through to get you where you are now. Their journey explains a lot about who you are as a person.
We all make our own choices in life and have our own unique or shared experiences as we travel though it. But these are not the only things that create who we are. The choices and experiences of our parents and ancestors also got us to where we are now whether we acknowledge it or not.
If my parents had not decided to leave Ireland in the 1950s I would be Irish and not Canadian. The choice my father made as a result of high unemployment in Ireland changed the course of his descendents lives.
It wasn’t just the choices of my parents that got me where I am. If my great grandfather, a commercial traveller for Quaker Oats who lived in Lancashire, hadn’t walked down that street in Limerick and spotted my great grandmother things again would have been different.
The experiences of your ancestors and the choices they make or those that are made for them have shaped who you are as a person. The results of these experiences formed our ancestor’s beliefs, passions, opinions, fears and loyalties. As a result this helped them decide how to raise their families and what values to instill in their children.
As you go through the research process you may find that some things have not changed for your family through the last century but then again some things may have changed drastically. Where did your family’s work ethic come from? Why did your family have to leave their homeland?
In 1685 the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France sent my Huguenot Sers family to London England. In the mid to late 1700s a branch went to Dublin Ireland. These choices whether made by my ancestors or made for them as a result of other circumstances changed the path of their descendents lives.
Researching family history is not just looking at the individual person or family. You will have to learn about different kinds of history such as social, political, economic and military, as well as border changes and religious beliefs and freedoms. All these created your family history and as a result helped put you where you are today.
©2010 – Blair Archival Research