Ancestor Searches

Your ancestry is one of the factors that make up what you are. We live in the shadow left by our ancestors. It is a pride possession that we cherish; but sometimes it is a burden too if the ancestors have done something that everyone will remember for the wrong reason. Whatever be the lineage, we cannot deny its presence in our lives.

At some point in life, we all become curious about from where we came, what was our family’s past, and how it all started. Ancestors come from both sides: you have maternal and paternal families to investigate. You begin it as a hobby to find out who all have come before you; soon you are so engrossed in building the family tree that it no longer remains a hobby, but a serious mission to trace your origin. But a journey to the past is not so easy. Availability of insufficient data is the major obstacle. We know about only a few generations of our family members; if grandparents are there, they can tell us about three or four generations before them; but beyond that it is only a vague picture even for them. If the family has a history of nomadic existence, the collection of data becomes even more exhausting, sometimes spanning to countries and continents.

But, none of these can deter the spirit of a person who has embarked on a mission to track down his/her predecessors. Before Internet had become an omnipresent phenomenon, anyone interested in finding out about their ancestors usually relied on church records, marriage or death certificates, census reports, family bibles and diaries, immigration records, and oral anecdotes from family and community members. But now, with the advance of technology and Internet, the extent of ancestor search is even more broadened; numerous websites offer free ancestor search through their software. Genealogy websites can help to search your ancestor through surnames, occupation, location, and many other criteria. Websites of churches, immigration departments, libraries, and graveyards; online newspaper archives, census and military records; all these are good resources for tracing your family tree.

If you cannot invest too much time and attention in studying the past of your family, but still would like to learn about its origin, you can enlist the services of professional genealogists.  Genealogists undertake scientific research of family history. They use both traditional and modern methods to gather information; sophisticated processes like genetic analysis are conducted by a professional genealogist to get accurate data.