Most of us had the opportunity to know our grandparents. But did we really “know” them or did we just know their names? And what do we know about the generations that came before them? If we were fortunate, we may have known them and had a sense of who they were as people and if we were very fortunate, we may have heard their stories from them or other family members which gave us some insight into who they were, what they believed and what they learned from their lives.
Today we want to learn everything we can about our ancestors and the lives they lived. Many of us are searching for our roots. Fortunately, we have more access to that information than we’ve ever had. Genealogy websites can provide us with facts about our ancestors, dates of birth, marriage dates, names of their children, census data, and death dates. Genetic tests examine our DNA and give us a report on our ancestry, the peculiarities of our genetics, and in some cases, even identify living relatives we never knew we had.
Yet, that information isn’t as personal or as valuable as the stories we hear directly from our family’s elders. Sure, we may know where they lived, their names, and how they fit into the family, but unless detailed family history and specific stories are shared between generations, there’s no way to know what our ancestors believed, what they valued or what events shaped their lives. Most of us don’t have the answers to questions like: What happened when our family came to America? Why did my great-great grandparents move from New York to Ohio? Why did my great-great grandfather take the life path that he took? Why did my grandmother make the career decisions she made? But don’t you wish you did?