Family history fosters hope
By: Rebecca Brosnan
Behind every person, there is a past. Today, more people than ever are interested in uncovering it.
The emergence of family history sites like FamilySearch.org and Genes Reunited reveals this growing interest, with Ancestry.com selling over 10 million DNA test kits since its launch in 1983, according to its website.
While Manager of the Genealogy Center, Curt Witcher, said there are many surface reasons why people begin family research, like learning about medical history or planning a vacation to the town their ancestors grew up in, the real reason is likely much deeper.
Quoting Alex Haley, the author of the 1976 book, “Roots: The Saga of an American Family”, Witcher described the desire to know one’s ancestry as “marrow deep.”
“It's within us,” Witcher said. “Can't explain it, can't give it, like, this is the reason why. I think it's part of being human.”
After working in the Genealogy Center for nearly 40 years, Witcher said it is amazing to see how studying family history changes people’s lives, especially for adoptees.
Witcher said the center assists many people in adoptive research and advises anyone questioning the power of story to observe an adoptee who has discovered his or her family.
“You can't really put your finger on it,” Witcher said, “but clearly it's affecting them very very emotionally."
​
Sara Allen who has worked at the Genealogy Center for 5 years as a genetic genealogy specialist said a lot of people who get DNA testing done are either adopted or want to know more about a family member who was adopted. But there is also another popular reason.
“There is a surprising number of people out there whose mother has not told them who their father was,” Allen said. “And so they come in here wanting to know more about their family because of that, because they have real gaps in their knowledge.”
In these cases, Allen said DNA testing is one of the best ways to find out more about family history if the father's name is not on their birth certificate or if the adoption records are not available.
While the Genealogy Center does not offer DNA testing kits like many popular online family history sites, Witcher said the center provides a number of resources that cannot be found online.
Benefits of conducting family research according to familysearch.org.
Witcher describes the center’s customer service as “the trifecta,” which includes licensing high quality databases, offering a large print and micro text collection, and providing hands-on research assistance by trained librarians.
​
“We have kind of an internal mantra, ‘high-tech, high-touch,’” Witcher said. “We want the best databases, the best Wi-Fi, the best scanning ability, and then it's not, ‘Go fish, go figure it out.’ It's like, ‘Here we will help you use this.’ And that is a pretty powerful combination.”
With so many resources to help the 65,000 guests who visit the Genealogy Center each year research their pasts, Witcher said sometimes people come across unflattering information about their ancestors.
“Everybody uncovers a few people that are, you know, disreputable,” Allen laughed. “We have a horse thief, we have a bootlegger. That type of thing.”
However, learning about the flaws and set backs of one’s ancestors has actually been proven to increase people’s resilience by providing examples of how their ancestors overcame hardships in the past, according to familysearch.org.
How to start researching family history based on steps provided by genealogycenter.org.
“They're people just like every other people,” Witcher said. “It's nothing surprising, but reassuring. People have all kinds of great aspirations and sometimes they fail. Most of the times they get up and keep going.”