Researching Your Family History

By Cheyenne Dorsagno

Sometimes, it hits you that you’re not just one person. Other people define you, and you define them. We’re all in a network of history.

And so, Mark Radlowski, Genealogy volunteer at the Utica Public Library, illustrated that our family history can be a data point in textbook history.

“The reason many of my family came over here [from Poland] is because of the mills,” he said.

Textile mills used to be booming in Utica, a fast-growing area. His family line shows how American immigration grew with our local industries.

As explained by Lisa Louise Cooke, host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, “When you connect your family’s story to historical movements, it stops being abstract. You start seeing them as participants in the events you read about in history books.”

Likewise, we may want to know what world our ancestors lived in. Radlowski recommended that we start by building a family tree.

Thankfully, soon after I took on that cause, I attended the 6th Annual Genealogy Webinar Marathon hosted by FamilyTreeWebinars.com and MyHeritage. The 24-hour series started on April 3 at 5 PM. There was plenty of advice on how anyone can start tracking their family history.

What to Look For

Professionals say that you can understand someone’s way of life by looking at how they eat, work, play, worship, celebrate, and dress.

Consider the communities they were part of – clubs they were in, churches they attended, and other places they frequented.

To capture their personalities, highlight habits like their courtship rituals, holiday traditions, and diary entries.

As explained by Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, “Genealogy is not just about collecting names – it’s about telling stories. If you only focus on names and dates, you miss the human part of history.”

Consider that your ancestor’s state of mind may have been shaped by their context – environmental conditions, breaking news, communicable diseases, ongoing national wars, etc.

And their day-to-day lives consisted of their homes, their chores, and other local goings-on. Today’s “boring” chitchat is tomorrow’s anthropological profile.

AmericanAncestors.org suggested that you ask senior relatives about their

• childhood hobbies,
• teenage misadventures,
• school studies,
• perceived commonalities among family members, and
• perspective on accounts that you can’t offer yourself (your early years,, their experience of notable historical events, and their earned wisdom on the lessons of life).

This is an opportunity to tap into oral history.

“Oral history can give you the clues that paper records can’t,” says Dr. Nick Barratt, historical researcher and genealogical consultant for BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? “A story your grandmother tells might explain why an ancestor moved across the country or changed their name.”

After all, your elders have seen the most of your family history.

“I wish that I had talked to my grandparents more,” said Louis Baum, past president and current board member of the Little Falls Historical Society. “It’s very important.”

Putting what you learn in writing is even more important.

“Think 50-100 years in advance,” he said. “When we’re no longer here, people can look back on our contribution.”

You may want to keep a record of how your family has trailed the global map. Or you can share anecdotes of how your family experienced cultural movements. Collect certificates. Assemble photos. Etcetera. If it matters now, then it will also matter later.

“They say history repeats itself,” said Louis.

So, when you look into the past, you learn about the future as well.

Organizing and Preserving

Hot Tip: When organizing your family history, outline the methods of your filing systems (physical and digital). Be it alphabetically by first name or what have you. And then, you can submit your findings to a genealogical society’s magazine. Afterwards, it will be recorded in the extensive PERSI database. PERSI, or the PERiodical Source Index, is a comprehensive index of articles and records in historical, genealogical, and ethnic publications. With this, your family record is accessible to anyone, maximizing your potential impact.

“Organizing your research isn’t just about tidiness – it’s about making your work usable to others in the future,” said Drew Smith, co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast.

Remember that we all matter to so many people for so many reasons. We just have to give people the opportunity to discover us as pieces in their puzzle of curiosity.

So, vice versa, you can enrich and contextualize your records with images and texts from louder cultural voices.

For instance, in 2008, when I was 12-years-old, I had a Barack Obama poster in my room. That poster is a symbol of a time in my life when I first considered what it meant to have a sociopolitical identity. Of course, it’s more notable that this poster represents the first person of color to become a U.S. president. But that poster is also tied to my personal development. People were asking each other if his election meant that racism was over. People asked me if I liked Obama because of his politics or because it made me look cool. One day, a grandchild may interview me about what that time in America was like (because I did have something of an inside look). And if people uncover that poster in post-apocalyptic rubble, then it would be worth looking into.

Point being that day-to-day culture and History (with a capital H) are clues of one another. For example, American classics like meatloaf rose in popularity in the 1940’s when home cooks extended their meat rations with breadcrumbs and eggs. In this way, home cooking and the war effort went hand-in-hand.

Consider Forrest Gump. Forrest seems to stumble into historical events. Yes, these are extreme cases (for our entertainment). But the movie does get across that “simple” people are in the middle of the big picture, whether we realize it or not.

Unexpected Tools

And times are always changing. For example, it’s still early, but Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another tool for genealogy research. There are custom Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs – or, artificially-intelligent computers that make human-like conversation). They conduct image analysis, document reading, information searching, etc.

For example, professional genealogist Yvette Hoitink created the Dutch Genealogy Bot. This AI assistant specializes in Dutch ancestry research.

“AI tools are starting to bridge the gap between massive data and human understanding. They don’t replace researchers, but they help us go deeper and faster,” Hoitnik explained.

Side note: Speaking of unseen connections… I must note the environmental impact of the computer farms needed to juice AI.

So, don’t forget about traditional research!

You may want to consider including some under-utilized, scandalous records. These documents can add some color and intrigue:

• coroner’s reports,
• inmate files,
• divorce decrees,
• police records,
• criminal court proceedings,
• civil court pleadings,
• jail discharge papers,
• church disciplinary constitutions, and
• juvenile reformatory cases.

Blaine Bettinger, The Genetic Genealogist, encouraged people to uncover data without discrimination. “Even the messy stories matter,” he said. “They’re part of what makes our families – and our history – real.”

In the big picture, you can use these prompts, tools,  and tips to compile records. In doing so, you offer a snapshot of both your family history and history at large.