Delve Into Your Family History

 

Today's quote is by one of my longtime favorite authors--Pearl S. Buck. I started reading her books when I was in high school. When I finished one, I'd search for another. She was a wonderful storyteller. Raised in China by American missionary parents, the majority of her books were set in China, about Chinese people of long ago. I learned a great deal about the culture of old China as I absorbed her stories. 

Back to the quote--'If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.' For me, that is one reason history is taught in school. We need to look back to see what happened and how it influenced us today. There will be both positives and negatives to be studied. 

It's also a reason for writing our family stories and keeping a family history. All that happened to our ancestors affects us in some way today.  If your grandparents or great-grandparents were immigrants, they brought the customs and culture of their old country to the new one. As time went on, those customs mingled with new American ones. The children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and on down the line acquired some of them. Many kept them, but others wanted to change to all American culture. Again, there are both positives and negatives. 

My grandparents were children of immigrants. My maternal side were Irish farmers and coal miners. My paternal side grandfather, whose ancestors were French-Canadian, was part of the auto industry in its early days. Not an owner but a mechanic who made good money in a new field. My husband's parents were both children of immigrants. Mine were city people, while my husband's maternal grandparents were farmers and the other side lived in a small town. All of these things had a big influence on my own life. Knowing the background both my parents and grandparents came from helped me understand them--and admire them in many ways. 

All too often, we don't have any interest in looking back at the generations in our family until we are older. Suddenly, we want to know where they came from, what kind of work they did, What talents did they have and more. By then, it is often too late, as the people we should talk to are gone. I wish I knew what it takes to make younger people delve into their family history and family stories.

I was fortunate in that my parents were storytellers. As our family ate together, we heard a great many stories about our grandparents and great-grandparents. Not all people are storytellers. My husband's mother was a child of immigrants, and she grew up with 8 siblings on a farm in central Illinois. She rarely ever spoke of her growing-up years. I finally figuted out that she was not proud of her heritage. Fortunately, her younger sister was the family storyteller. It was one of the only ways we learned of my husband's family history. 

If you want to learn who you are and understand yourself, search into the yesterdays of your family. Then do write those family stories and keep a record of the family history. You do not need to be a professional writer to do this. Don't wait until it's too late.