Everyone has a story.
Everyone. What is your story? What about your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents? How much do you know about the lives of your ancestors? Each of them lived a unique life that intersected with their own family, friends, neighbors and nations, along with the particular political, economic and cultural events of their times.
You have ancestors who lived in every period of history!
Somewhere on the planet, your forebearers were born, grew, lived and died. What was your family doing during World War II, the Great Depression, the Roaring Twenties and the First World War? What about the Civil War or perhaps even the Revolutionary War? Were your ancestors in the U.S. or in their native lands? When did they arrive on these shores and why did they leave their homes? Were they willing immigrants, desperate refugees or enslaved persons? Where was their first home in America? Or perhaps your family always lived in the Americas.
There are so many questions to ask and so many stories to tell about your many, many ancestors!
HOW MANY ANCESTORS DO YOU HAVE?
64 great, great, great, great grandparents
(4x great grandparents)
32 great, great, great grandparents
(3x great grandparents)
16 great, great grandparents
(2x great grandparents)
8 great grandparents
4 grandparents
2 parents
You
And the numbers get bigger quickly after this: from 64 to 128 to 256 to 512 to 1024. Just ten generations back, you have over one thousand ancestors!
Of course, the farther back in time one goes, the fewer genealogical resources there are available, but for most people, at least some records exist for the past 150 to 300 years. That is quite a few generations. There isn’t time to uncover all of their stories, but you can begin the journey right now!
And family can be defined in so many ways, not just biologically. There is adoptive family, blended family, foster family, family by choice, and more. The people you care about have a history. What is their story?
The American Crow
American Crows are smart and curious birds. They excel in solving problems and adjust well to a variety of environments. Like our ancestors, this common bird is a survivor. From farmlands to cities, their distinctive silhouette is common across North America.
And so, the crow seems an apt symbol for our family history service. We will approach your personal genealogy questions in a smart and efficient manner. We will attempt to solve whatever challenges we encounter in searching for documents and uncovering lost or unknown relationships. And we will relish the stories we uncover about your ancestors who were survivors, often forced to adapt to new and difficult circumstances, sometimes facing trying times and sometimes achieving their dreams.
What is the meaning of family history?
How do our ancestors’ choices and stories affect us?
Sometimes our ancestors’ choices affect us directly and profoundly. If your great grandparents left their homeland to make a new life in the United States, for instance, then you are here today because of them. Did your grandparents bid farewell to the farm to become urban dwellers, leave the city for a new suburban lifestyle, or migrate north for greater opportunities? The place that you call home today may be the result of their choices.
As we conduct genealogical research and learn these tales, we may feel a wide range of emotions: surprise, sadness, pride, disappointment, amusement, wonder, and more. We all have ancestors who worked hard and tried to do the right thing and we all have ancestors who were ne’er-do-wells. It is impossible to predict what you will find once you start down the path of family history. Both triumph and tragedy are probable, but in any case, you will know more about yourself, about where you came from, and who you are. You will create a CONNECTION to the family that came before.
