While I am not generally a history buff, the release of the 1940 census records have piqued my curiosity. I don’t really know much about my family’s heritage, and have never really cared to, but I feel myself being drawn to our family history more than ever. My kids have started asking questions as we look through scrapbooks about who each person is, and honestly I don’t know most of the people in my own family. If they have been dead for over half of my life, I am lucky if I remember their name.
I have been spending time reading books from different time periods to the kids, and this also causes them to question our family. They want to know if anyone in our family owned slaves, or came over on the Mayflower, or fought in the war. It seems like they want to make sense of history, and if they can just relate it to their own lives they will better understand.
While I never cared before, I am starting to get excited. I guess I’m not the only one…
According to CNN the National Archives and Records Administration received over 60 million hits in three hours! With that much interest, I have to believe I have missed out. By simply remaining clueless about my families heritage, I feel like I am missing out on an important part of my past.
George Santayana is known for saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Well, maybe it’s just as bad to have never known the past. How else can I learn from my family’s mistakes?
So now my kids and I want to begin our Family Search to see what we can learn, and I can’t help but hope that one day a future generation is searching for me!
How much do you know about your family’s history?
