We have often heard the old adages that still ring as
true today as the day they were coined: "History repeats itself,"
and "In order to understand the present, we must understand the past."
It is no coincidence
that these truisms not only apply to historical events in general, but also to
our own ancestry or family histories.
While researching and discovering the lives of our
distant ancestors and their family members we are often astonished by their
similarities in both physical and personality traits to those of relatives we
have known in our own contemporary families. Such discoveries should not
really be so amazing to us; family traits are, after all, inherited.
Studying our family history can help guide us toward a better understanding of
our ancestors by linking them to their descendants.
Perhaps one of the best reasons for the pursuit of
genealogy can be summed up by the quotation:
"He is the happiest man who can connect the
end of his life with its beginning."
—
Goethe
