Grandparents: A Bridge to Genealogy

When you want to learn about something, going to the source will always give you the best chance to get the correct information. There is no better source for genealogy than grandparents and older relatives. Contacting older relatives is a great place to start building the bridges that connect family pasts with the family's present and future.

Take full advantage of these valuable resources for genealogy while you still have them. They know the family stories, historical accounts, and family traditions better than anyone else. The stories they tell may lead you to find important names, dates, and places. Sometimes their memories are not too clear, or stories get jumbled together. Don’t let this discourage you. Not everything you learn may be accurate, but by clarifying names, dates, and places through these conversations, you will have an easier time later looking for information on your own. The more relatives you talk to, the more information you will receive and the better chance you will have of getting the full story with all the vim and vigor of real life mixed with it.

Receiving information on one's ancestors is interesting. Knowing where they came from, what they did, how they lived, and the local circumstances that surrounded them, fills in the bridges that connects the past with the present and future. It may even help you learn some things about yourself. These bridges are not built by accident. Each person can be an architect of this bridge for his or her own family.