Where did I come from? Genealogy and DNA testing
Years ago…before all information was available online…my mother and I used to get in the car and take ourselves physically to the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
We would spend hours going through old records on microfilm looking for the puzzle pieces of our ancestry. I know conducting an online search is probably more thorough and certainly more efficient, but there is nothing quite like the thrill of searching for a needle in a haystack and then finding it! In this situation, finding a name and some new bit of information you were searching for and adding it to your family tree.
I still have a thick book containing large graphs of my family tree, copies of those hard-found supporting documents, and even photographs and brief histories for many of my ancestors.
One fun fact, my second great-grandfather, Philo T. Farnsworth, is widely credited with creating the television.
When we discovered royalty in our ancestry, King Edward III, we were gifted with a list of ancestors going back to Adam and Eve. Of course, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. As I understand it, genealogists of that era were highly motivated to provide that lineage for the King.
My closest ancestors to come to the United States were my 2nd great-grandparents, some from England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, and Prussia (a German state).
More recently…relatively speaking…I decided to take a home DNA test to learn more about what I am made of and where my ancestors came from. Not too surprisingly, the DNA results lined up quite closely with the genealogical work my mother and I had done all those years ago.
I hadn’t thought about all of this for awhile. Then one of my grandson’s started looking into his ancestry, and it got me thinking about all the research I had done and piqued my interest in digging a little further. Or perhaps the next step is to plan an ancestry trip. Wouldn’t that be fun to see the places where my ancestors lived?
Your turn
- Have you researched your genealogy?
- Have you taken a DNA test?
- Have you traveled to the lands of your ancestors?
- What else is on your mind? Anything at all; I just love to hear from you.
How fun to see your genealogy book and hear our history! I did not know some of those facts. I never did do family history searches with mom, but I know she really enjoyed it. And what sweet memories you have of that time together. I loved seeing her handwriting too. 🥹 If you travel to where our ancestors are from I hope you’ll let me join you!
I really do enjoy those memories with mom, Cindy. They are even more valuable to me than the genealogy itself. It was fun looking back on the physical papers and seeing some of my own progress notes too. Wouldn’t it be fun if we went on an ancestry trip together? I see that at some point in our future. I love you sister!
I haven’t researched my genealogy much but my grandfather traced his ancestors back to the Mayflower and compiled all his research into a bound book for each of us. Unfortunately I don’t always know what I’m looking at on each page or the significance of it but it’s still pretty neat to have. And I have copies for my boys when they get older if they’d like them too.
That is so cool that your grandfather did that for you, Joanne.
I’ve never had an interest in family history or genealogy, but I know many people are fascinated with where they’ve come from – and you’ve certainly done a really interesting deep dive. Interesting how people are often quite elderly in those old photos – I think if I was only going to have a photo or two of me being passed down, I’d want to be young and fresh in them! 🙂
Your comment about the photos made me laugh, Leanne. I hadn’t really noticed that, but you are right. At the time I was doing the genealogy with my mother, I was most interested in spending the time with her and having this shared activity. The predominant religion in Utah is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), and doing genealogy is a part of that religion, so many people in Utah are interested in family history.
One year, my co-teacher and I did a genealogy study for an afterschool club. We were using the internet then. I remember being able to find my dad’s social security online back then. Imagine that today! I think that’s so cool you’re related to Philo Farnsworth! He had a lab in Fort Wayne, Indiana…about 20 miles west of my hometown! In fact, my husband worked for the company that grew out of his…ITT (International Telephone & Telegraph). It truly is a small world. Mike did a lot of work on his genealogy on Ancestry.com when he first retired. His parents were from the hollers of Kentucky and didn’t make it to high school. So, when he discovered he had Lords and Knights Templar in his ancestry, I was pretty shocked. Like…how does that happen? I did a little bit, but both sides of my family tree had misspellings in their last names so I came to a halt and didn’t really bother to pursue it. I have little books aunts on both sides put together by going to the Fort Wayne library which has a pretty good genealogy department…nothing like the one in Salt Lake City, though! Thanks for sharing this, Christie!
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It is so amazing what you can find on the internet, isn’t it Marsha? My father’s grandparents were divorced, and my grandmother remarried long before I was born, so I never knew any of the Farnsworths, but it’s fun knowing I am a biological descendent of a famous inventor. It really is pretty fascinating to trace the movement and development of our ancestors, and I often wonder how certain aspects evolved. That’s why I love when you find even a brief history or journal entries that give you a tiny peek into someone’s mindset.
Yes to all of the above Christie. I have been researching my family for over 40 years. I must say that living in Utah you are perfectly placed to pop into the Family search library. I’m quite envious.
I knew that you are a family research enthusiast, Jennifer. And you are right, the Salt Lake Family Search Library is impressive. I have so many fond memories of going there with my mother.
Hi Christie, I’ve had my DNA tests done too and was amazed at the amount of information it showed. Just recently my sister and I went to the Basque are in Spain and France solely because it showed up in my results – we loved learning about that part of the world. I wrote a post about our time in Spain just last week and how much we enjoyed it.
My mother and my husband are both very into the relevant family trees and I love watching on from the sidelines.
It’s so interesting isn’t it and what a lovely time you and your mother must have had on your trips to Utah together.
That’s great, Debbie, that you and your sister got to visit the country of some of your ancestors. I too have a small amount of Basque in my DNA. It’s not much, but I claim it proudly.
I actually live in Utah, so the trips to the Family History Library were trips only in the sense of visiting a local spot, but one that we thoroughly enjoyed on a regular basis.