#19: Trace My Family Tree

Being a history teacher, I find that students are able to love a topic better if there is some personal connection to it.  I’m constantly trying to find what my student’s interest and background are so that I can make my class personal.  I, though like most students, don’t really know much about my background.  Of course there are the stories that have been passed down but how many of you can say that you know who you are and who you come from?  This year I set out to learn more about my family tree.

I started by contacting my aunt who had started work on a family tree for my mother’s side.  Taking that and using Ancestry.com I was able to have somewhat of a head start.  Once I put in a few names, clues started popping up right and left and I was amazed at what I was finding.  There were marriage records and gravesite photos.  I found countless applications for the Sons of the American Revolution and Census records for both the States and the UK.  I come from a long line of Ichabods and John Smiths.  I learned that an ancestor on my father’s side was captured by Native Americans and scalped.  I was shocked when I saw that both on my mother’s and father’s sides my ancestors arrived in America during the mid-17^th century!  We helped build this country!  I was able to trace my mother’s side back to the 1200s and learn that we come from a long line of Earls and even have some Cromwell blood in our family tree! 

Some of the lines of the tree were dead ends, whether it was because the records were in German (which I have to confess I don’t read) or because the records just went cold.  I have some more research to do (I would like to contact the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution to see if they can help with some relatives).  Although this item is still done I will still continue researching and learning as much as I can about where I come from.  Who knows, maybe I’ll find that I’m next in line for the throne! :)