Learning family history may change your life
Research—listen, read, search and discover
How many students in school groan when faced with reading about and learning history? Is it because history is often taught as memorized dates or ho-hum facts? The truth is, history isn’t complicated and it sure isn’t boring. History is the story of individuals, families and nations. History is the story of John Smith, Squanto, George Washington, Clara Barton. It is the story of your family, your grandparents—and you.
When I used to speak to different groups, one of my favorite topics was how to and the importance of sharing your story. Too often we don’t appreciate the lives of our grandparents and parents until we lose their stories to death. History is simply your story, my story. It is the story of the famous, the infamous and the neighbor next door.
What factors made us what we are? Family, friends, culture, time period and our own attitudes and faith or lack thereof. The same goes for present as well as historical figures. Why does this even matter? Who cares what the lives of our ancestors were like or what they went through?
It does matter. A person’s story explains decisions made and can help us be more understanding of choices made and actions taken. Why does your family do certain things, celebrate in certain ways? The answer may lie in the past. Understanding how others dealt with certain situations can assist us in making similar or very different choices.
When our kids were young, I’d use stories of my own life to illustrate choices made and how those choices impacted my life. I’d choose events that mirrored something they dealt with or that happened to them that day. My experiences helped give my kids perspective. My stories mattered in their life choices. Those experiences became the basis for my family devotional “Sagebrush.”
Sharing stories, especially family stories, bonds us as families. It also offers clarity for the future. Children often feel they don’t quite “fit,” and sense a void because they have no background or family foundation on which to rely. They don’t have a well of family experiences from which to draw.
One day while in elementary school, son Chris came home with something about Columbus he’d learned in school. I learned our friend’s daughter learned something similar at her school. It sounded off. Was it true? My curiosity and my desire for factual history led me to research Columbus. I like research. I kept digging back in time until I found original sources-translated, of course until I found my answers.
My research led back to Marco Polo and forward in time as I discovered something surprising. Historical figures didn’t exist in a vacuum. Each was influenced by other historical figures. This led me to research these links from Marco polo to Clara Barton.
Eventually, this research led me to chronicle my research into a book for young people entitled “Threads of Time” that has been used in homes and school situations. History isn’t just facts and figures.
As I discovered, history is simply the lives of those who went before us, good or bad, how they lived, thought and believed. Ever listened to stories told by your grandparents? That’s history. Whether they want to accept it or not, those who preceded us changed our world, our lives, even our beliefs about ourselves and others.
History is critical to our well-being as individuals, families and as a nation. Seeking to destroy a history some may not like is not the answer. When searching for truth ask yourself questions. Is this true, an actual demonstratable fact from a credible source, or is this an assumption or a guess? Does what you’re researching fit the culture of the time, people and place—not an attempt to push contemporary ideas, culture, faith, etc. on historical character or times?
The answer is to face truth, know history and seek to follow a positive path forward. There are many books that make history come alive.
Check out original and well-researched sources of historical figures. Who knows where your family might intersect. Mine intersects with the Charles Lindbergh family.
The Travels of Marco Polo (autobiographical) Fascinating reading
Christopher Columbus: The Four Voyages: Being His Own Log-book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narratives
Also: The Diario of Christopher Columbus’s First Journey to America, 1492-93 (Volume70) (American Exploration and travel Series)
The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The autobiography of Abraham Lincon (1906) some of his thoughts and writings, brief
Florence Nightingale: Lady with the Lamp (Heroes of the Faith)
Clara Barton: The Story of My Childhood
A place to start for family information: family diaries, letters, cards, photo albums, legal documents, online sites, church documents, etc.
These are just a few possibilities for exploration. But why not start with your own family. “Grampa, what was the most important thing that happened in your life?” Ask questions. You might be surprised at what you learn. Who knows. Maybe you have a pirate in your background.
(c) 2025 Carolyn R Scheidies
Published Kearney Hub 6/30/2025
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