Ten years ago, Jenny Hawran took a DNA test and discovered her biological father was not the father who reared her from childhood. It was unsettling, she told me. “Researching my family history allowed me to seek truth without shame and to grieve losses in a healthy way.”
Hawran was 50 years old when she made this discovery. As an avid genealogist, she said she has found a deeper understanding of who she is from researching her family tree.
“Older people can gain a sense that their life truly has purpose when they do family history because they can see it all laid out in front of them,” she said. “It can also help you be in charge of your own narrative and leave your story for the next generation.”
There is considerable research showing how the benefits of doing family history and genealogy can be profound and far reaching, as well as personally transformative. Digging deeper into your family’s heritage can be a journey of self-discovery that bridges the gap between the past and the present. By tracing the lives of those who came before you, you can gain a unique perspective on your own life and the world in which you live.
Whether you are looking for medical insights, a stronger sense of identity, or a way to connect with living relatives, there are stories and experiences that await anyone looking to learn more about the present by delving into the past.
One of the most powerful reasons to engage in genealogy is the development of a stronger sense of identity. Understanding your heritage helps define who you are and where you fit in the world. Learning about the cultures, traditions, and values of your ancestors helps you establish a unique and authentic core identity.
Years ago as a teenager, I got into a melee in a basketball game when an opposing player kept picking on a teammate of mine. Later, I was embarrassed and ashamed that I let my emotions get the better of me. The next day, my mother saw me moping around the house and asked me what was wrong. Reluctantly, I told her.
After listening, she told me a story about my grandpa, her father. When she was a little girl, only 6 or 7 years old in the 1920s, she said farmers from Clinton, Utah, played their counterparts from Hooper, Utah, each year. Families from both towns would watch the game while having a picnic. Most years, she said, a fight broke out among the players either during or following the game.
Your grandpa was a big man and sometimes called himself an enforcer, she told me. He had a strong sense of justice and rarely sat by when there was something he thought needed to get addressed. You have that same characteristic, she told me. It’s both good and bad. Don’t give up standing for something, but instead find productive ways to tackle problems. “That’s what Grandpa did.”
Somehow, hearing that story changed me. I had always looked up to my grandpa — and still do — but suddenly recognized, in a way that I never had before, that he wasn’t “perfect.” He struggled to keep his emotions in check just like me. Rather than diminish his stature, it increased in my eyes. I admire him even more.
Mostly, my ancestors are ordinary people. As far as I’m aware, they didn’t do anything momentous or newsworthy. A few, like Peregrine Sessions, who established Sessions Settlement, now Bountiful, and Jonathan Caulkins Wright, who was a city council member in Nauvoo, are mentioned in historical records, but most simply raised families and crops, while doing the best they could each day.
Yet, their stories are my stories and meaningful to me and my children and grandchildren. Telling these family stories reminds us of our legacy and influences our ordinary decisions.
For those, like me, who have limited experience in family history, as well as experts who have delved deeply into their personal history, there are a variety of available resources. One of these resources is RootsTech26 which runs this week from March 5-7 in Salt Lake City. This is the largest annual family history and genealogy gathering in the world — drawing about 25,000 attendees at more than 250 exclusive sessions and another 50,000 participants who can join more than 200 online sessions at no cost.
While RootsTech is an important event, almost anyone can get started doing family history and genealogy with local support. My teenage granddaughter, Sydney, started with just a little help from a friend. At first, she asked me questions about family members, then began sharing stories about ancestors she had discovered. On one family line, she was able to go back to 1066 to find that while our ancestors came from England, they originated in France. One progenitor accompanied the invading Norman army and never returned to France. Who knew!
While I don’t know much about these early ancestors, family history often reveals how ordinary people were part of history, for better or worse. For instance, Cheri Passey told me that she was saddened to learn that some of her ancestors were enslavers.
“Confronting that history has been difficult,” she told me in an email. “But it has led me to look for ways to turn something that was painful into something constructive by helping descendants of those enslaved reconnect with their ancestors through the records left behind.”
Family history is not just about preserving the past, Passey wrote. “It is about connections, care and well-being. By taking time to learn our families’ stories, we give meaning to our own experiences and create space for understanding, healing and peace.”
Ultimately, genealogy teaches us that while we are individuals, we are also part of a vast, enduring social fabric of human experience — “one great family” — that connects us all to each other.