The Importance of Tracing our Roots

Our family’s genealogy impacts our past, present, and future lives.

Everyone wants to belong, and learning about ancestors is a wonderful way to ground an

individual’s life within a greater context of time and place. Tracing family roots back through

generations can help a person connect more deeply with a sense of self by learning about their

family’s past – where they came from, who they were, what they did, the trials they overcame,

the accomplishments they achieved, and the dreams they had. It helps in establishing a strong

identity, which improves self-esteem. Furthermore, knowing genealogy can make a great family

bonding, involving parents, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren. It can bring family

members together around a shared interest and also inspire intergenerational storytelling and

sharing. Learning about common ancestors has a way of opening up doors of communication.

Sometimes, knowing this will even end up reconnecting long-lost relatives in surprising ways. In

some cases, there’s an opportunity to collect family medical information, either from living

relatives or by uncovering health information from records about ancestors. This information can

be helpful in identifying potential risk factors for surviving family members. Finally, as we get

older we realize the importance of family not just the people we grew up with or raised us, but

the broad extended family of our great aunts, first, second, third cousins, and great-great-great

grandparents. There is much to be said and to be learned for looking back on the generations that

came before. Even though they are long gone, they may still have much to teach us about our

families, about history, and about ourselves.

Therefore, returning to our roots help us understand where we began and remind us who

we are. That is why like the roots that makes the tree strong, we need to get back to what makes

us strong – our roots, our foundation.