A elderly woman walks through the heavy glass doors that lead to the institute. “Hi, I would like to research my family history,” one says to the employee at the desk. The employee tells her the next steps in conducting research at the institute. The elderly visitor then goes to sit down at the desk full of computers.
“Do you know where your family came from?” asks the genealogist.
“Well my father came to America in 1902 from Russia. As the eldest survivor of the family, I have the responsibility to do the research.”
Fast forward to a couple of hours later, a middle aged man visiting NY with his 30- something-year-old daughter walk through the glass doors to the institute. The father proceeds to tell the employee at the front desk that they had gone to Ellis Island, but had not found what they were looking for. The employee directs the man and his daughter to the table full of research computers. Thirty minutes later, I hear an excited voice blurt out, “Holy s**t! This is my grandfather!” I naturally react to this loud shout by turning to look at the man. He has a big smile on his face and cannot contain his excitement. He continues to smile at the computer screen and point to the information he has just found. “Oh my gosh,” says the man in disbelief. “I got to write this down!”
It is scenes and stories like these that I am surrounded by every day at one of my summer internships. While one may find it annoying after some time to hear the same reactions of disbelief from visitors researching their family history, I can’t help but smile.
I began researching my family history a couple of years ago. I always remember having had an interest in my family's past, but it seems that as I have gotten older, I’ve become more and more interested. Part of this I feel is due to the fact that both sides of my grandparents had passed before I graduated high school, and I came to the realization that while they were alive, I never really asked them questions about what it was like to grow up as children of immigrants.
Ever since then, I’ve had a burning desire to uncover more and more about my ancestors. In a way, I feel I have a responsibility to ancestors I’ve met and haven’t met to uncover their histories. The more research and information I discover, the more I feel I am getting to know my relatives. Also, knowing that doing this research is something that my grandparents and their parents (my great-grandparents) would have appreciated, especially at my age, makes this project even more meaningful.
Family history research is not like a research paper you write in school. This information is personal and brings you a step closer to the people who made your existence possible. There’s nothing like being a detective, trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together. Start your research, now!
