The popularity of genealogy in recent years points to the innate
curiosity of humans who want to understand from where they come from and what
makes them...well, them. This recent trend
has been fuelled by main stream media via television shows and advertisements with
genealogy themes. There are other
irresistible reasons that drive people to seek answers to the question “where does
my family come from? “ For example, People seem to have an inherent desire to identify
with a group. In fact saying "I'm Scottish," or "I'm part
Egyptian," is like wearing a badge of honor. There's also the allure of
"pedigree." Being the descendant of anyone who left a significant
mark in the distant past is enough to conjure up a nostalgic smile on the
family historian face. However, the overriding impetus for genealogy’s popularity
seems to be that we simply want to know our histories. Wouldn't it be nice to
know that your great, great, great grandfather sat on a hill in Carnac, France
in 1700 staring at the sea as our great, great, great grandmother painted his
portrait? To visit that hill yourself, makes knowing your family story all the
more of an amazing experience! I can’t
begin to explain what it was like for me to see the buildings my ancestors saw,
walk in their footsteps, and pray in the same church they prayed in.
Kim
