August 2, 2024
Everybody’s genealogy journey is different. Many years ago, when I began the search for my family’s roots, I took classes to help me figure out how to proceed. The classes taught me that I should begin with myself and move backwards from there. They introduced me to various records such as censuses and vital records that could help me with my search for the past.
What the classes didn’t explain very well is that everyone’s genealogy varies. Of my eight great grandparents, seven were born outside the United States. This has meant that many of the usual records that are recommended for U.S. researchers don’t apply to me. For example, many of my families don’t appear on censuses before 1900 – they weren’t in the United States at that time.
Very early in my research I learned that I would need to “jump the pond” if I wanted to expand my family tree beyond ancestors from the 20th century.
I remember making trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City with genealogy friends. They’d immediately head for the published genealogy books on the top floor. I, on the other hand, headed straight for the basement floors where the European records lived. Very few of the books and microfilms pertained to my late arrival ancestors. One of my friends commented that it was as if I were on a different trip than the rest of them.
My genealogy process was different than most of the genealogists I knew, but that’s how genealogy is. Not everyone’s ancestors arrived in North America at the same time. Some of us have centuries of American history to study when we try to understand our ancestors’ lives. Others of us have only a few decades to American history which pertains directly to our families. We all start our American research when our ancestors arrived here – whenever that was.
For some of us that is 1607 in Jamestown or 1620 in Plymouth. For those folks, there are many genealogies and other books written about the people who arrived then. In earlier generations, genealogy was primarily geared towards people whose ancestors arrived in the colonial period. Organizations such as the Mayflower Society and Daughters of the American Revolution limit their members to those who can prove their descent from early Americans.
Nowadays, genealogy is more inclusive. Ancestors who came to America in the late 19th century and even the 20th century are common subjects of modern genealogical studies and books. Using records such as passenger lists and naturalization records, many of us have learned a lot about our immigrant ancestors.
Digitization of records has made records from overseas widely available too. Many countries outside the United States have active genealogical communities who are happy to share their families with scattered cousins from America.
No matter when your family came to America, their stories are waiting for you to discover them. They’re all worth researching.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society