Why Americans Research Genealogy

Family "tree" of 12 generations. Sadly, not mine. Source

Genealogical research is a huge new hobby in the United States. Experts estimate that 19 million Americans are currently researching genealogy, and 88 more are interested in doing so. One of the largest sites, ancestry.com, has 1.6 million paying subscribers, and many more non-paying members. This increased interest is mostly due to the internet, which made searching through census and other records much easier and more accessible.

But even if the internet has made genealogy easier, it's hardly easy, especially once you get more than a couple of generations back. It requires a sizable amount of time, but millions of Americans find it worth it. Why is this?

For some, there are religious motivations. In The Jesus Christ Church of Latter-day Saints, living ancestors of deceased people can stand in for their relatives to perform baptisms on the dead, which offers the dead a chance at salvation. The about 14 million Mormons (even though not all or even most are probably doing research) therefore make up a pretty big chunk of those 19 million researchers, and the LDS Church runs one of the major genealogy research websites.

But there are still a lot of people doing research for entirely personal reasons. In a nation of immigrants, many people have little or no sense of cultural heritage. I am one of those people. Other than documents I've found through researching genealogy, there is nothing in my life that would indicate my heritage. Researching my ancestry has neither changed nor made me want to change that fact. I guess it might for some people, but I doubt it. If cultural traditions aren’t something you’re raised with, they are unlikely to mean much to you, and adults (the most common researchers) are unlikely to make even relatively minor lifestyle changes based off on information about their great great great grandparents. For people who already have these traditions, however, genealogy might offer a chance to validate the stories they’ve been told.

I know that I certainly get a sort of perverse enjoyment out of debunking family myths, such as my father’s belief he was related to Thomas Paine and Narcissa Whitman, or my mother’s belief (more of a firm conviction, really) she was Austrian. My mother's response to the last was particularly entertaining. And confirming our “direct descendant” status from Governor Bradford wasn’t half bad either. And there are millions more stories to be had, about war criminals and war heroes and people who founded towns or had eight of ten children die before age five. The stories are fun. Really fun.

And they create one of the reasons I think I enjoy it, and a lot of others do too – it links you with history. I spent hours researching the Bataan Death March after I learned my great-uncle was in it. The Civil War was a lot more interesting once I could name a couple important generals I was related to, and I now know who the second governor of Plymouth was, because he’s my 11^th great grandfather.

It’s also a very satisfying puzzle. Filling in the names and dates is an addicting challenge that provides plenty motivation for people like me.

There is also the possibility of connecting yourself, even distantly, to someone famous. I, for example, have taken great joy in connecting myself to characters such as General George McClellan, Governor Bradford, Clint Eastwood, and Noah Webster.

So that leaves me with seven reasons: being Mormon, debunking family myths, validating family myths, finding new family stories, connecting yourself to history, solving a puzzle, and connecting yourself to someone famous. But all of these reasons can and do apply to people outside of America, and yet Americans make up the majority of those doing research. So why are Americans so interested in this? I think it has something to do with what I brought up earlier, that many of us overly diluted mixbreeds lack a sense of culture. I, as one of these, have not gained one through research, but I've at least gotten an awareness of my ancestors and where they came from and how they lived, that can take the place of traditions. In this way, it can fill a hole for us. The varied ethnicities that many of us come from also provides an interest: if all you are is English, and your family has lived in one village for three hundred years, genealogy probably won't tell you anything interesting.

I think, though, that the most important aspect of our interest in genealogy is our intense sense of individual importance. I am not satisfied by knowledge of national heroes, or ethnic mythology. I cannot gain a sense of identity from the fact that my country or ethnic group once did something. But if my ancestor was in the Bataan death march, then it means something to me. Our individuality drives us to discover our own historical identity, what role our ancestors played. And this is why I will continue to pour through Czech church records day in and day out, searching from my elusive great great grandfather. Because I don't care what the Czechs did, I care what my  great great grandfather did.