I could spend, and at times I have spent, hours studying and searching through family history. I have developed a sincere love of family history, but it is not an easy task. In some ways, genealogy is an unending investigation with aspects of anthropology, architecture, sociology, archeology, and world history thrown together. The challenge is a steep but rewarding one. Through genealogy you can understand yourself, understand your world, and develop a proud heritage for the next generation.
By researching genealogy, you can understand yourself and the histories that have influenced you. When we talk about psychology, one aspect of understanding one’s personal history is to study a family’s genogram. “A genogram is a family map or history that uses special symbols to describe relationships, major events, and the dynamics of a family over multiple generations.” While this is a clinical study that should be analyzed by professionals to get an accurate assessment for psychology or health diagnosis, a developing sense of your family history can yield clues to where your family developed certain traditions and biases.
Studying family history also enables you to understand your world. As you study your personal family history, there is no escaping having a understanding of world events such as political situations, wars, depressions, and migrations. Like understand the personal family history, you will begin to have an understanding of how the rest of our world has developed as well.
Finally, through thorough genealogy research you will develop a proud heritage for the next generation. In every family history, we all find our heroes and villains sprinkled through the branches of our family tree. The villains will make you cringe, but the heroes will give you a new found since of pride that you will want to pass on to the next generation. But curating the entire story, you will pass along a complete story of the wonders of the past generations to be enjoy by the future ones.
These are only three reasons that I find to motivate me to study my family history. The most compelling reason is the triumph I feel when I unlock a puzzle or complete a branch. I hope you will take time this next year to study more of your genealogy and share it with your family.
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