June 26, 2026
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis’ sister recently died. Jamie posted a memorial about her sister which was full of fond memories of good times with her sister. As a genealogist, I especially appreciated Jamie’s anecdote about travelling to Hungary with her sister to explore their father’s roots.
Jamie described finding their family’s ancestral village and discovering information about their ancestors. According to Jamie, the search for her family’s roots meant more to her because she shared it with her sister.
The last line of the memorial struck a chord with me. Jamie recommended that anyone who has siblings should try to take a family history trip with them. She felt that it was a wonderful way to spend family time and brought her and her sister closer together.
As a genealogist, I agree with Jamie Lee Curtis. If you have siblings and are able, take at least one family history trip together. It doesn’t matter if your sibling is a genealogist or not. You’ll never regret it. I know because my sister Terry and I took several trips together to see the places where our ancestors lived.
When we began our sister trips, Terry was interested in our family’s roots, but she wasn’t really a genealogist. I had become obsessed with family history and was dying to travel to some ancestral areas.
Terry and I made our first family history trip together to Minnesota. Our paternal great grandparents lived there for several years before they moved to Utah. They lived about 50 miles west of Minneapolis in Meeker County. Meeker County is rural even today, so we based our trip in Minneapolis with a couple of long days spent in Meeker County.
We visited the local historical society museum, cemeteries where relatives are buried and drove out to the farm our great grandparents once owned. Since Terry was new to research, we only spent a few hours at the museum looking for news articles and other records about our family. I didn’t want Terry to feel overwhelmed with too much time in front of microfilm readers and digging through old newspapers.
After our visit to our ancestors, we spent a few days at the Mall of America and visiting some of the local points of interest in the twin cities. We had a wonderful time. Both of us felt closer to our ancestors than we had before. Plus, we had a lot of fun!
After that trip, Terry and I made an annual family history trip. We visited Boston and Vermont where our colonial ancestors lived. We made a trip to Hancock County, Illinois, where one of our Mormon ancestors spent some time. Another favorite trip was to Long Island, New York where our Terry family lived for over a hundred years. Since Terry was named for that family, it was especially meaningful to us. As Terry became more serious about genealogy, we ended up spending more time at research repositories where we searched for records about our families. However, we always found time to visit some tourist sites along the way.
Over the years, Terry and I took a dozen or more genealogy trips. We learned a lot about our family and had a wonderful time together. My only regret is that we didn’t take even more trips together.
Terry is gone now, and I miss her more than I can say. I’m so glad we spent time together discovering our shared history. Like Jamie Lee Curtis, I think travelling with a sibling is a great way to discover your family, both the living and those who came before.
If you can, do it now. You never know how long you’ll have the opportunity. I think you’ll be sorry if you don’t.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society