Genealogy & Family History is Important to Self-Identification

I have not been able to access my family history for a number of years and as a result have had a vague and sketchy idea of my medical history let alone my heritage.

As I worked through my Masters degree program in Psychology, I have learned a great deal about myself. Recently, part of my course work involved researching my family history and creating a genogram and chronology. This helps to identify the influences that make me who I am today as an individual, parent and wife, and Spiritual Christian, as well as, the development of personal beliefs, actions/reactions, and values.

Most of my family is now deceased and that has made it difficult to track information. A few remaining family members have been sending me information and I have learned a great deal about the last three generations. I am also adding my own family to the chronology.

There are still bits and pieces that I am hoping can be filled in as more family becomes involved in the process. That is partly what this column is all about- to enlist those who don¹t yet know about this project. It was interesting to find that the maternal family has a tie back to German royalty and that my Great-Great Grandparents lived in Crawford, Pa., as well as, the backgrounds of aunts, uncles, and cousins (some of which I never had the opportunity to meet.)

Most interesting has been the family medical history which includes the causes of death and medical background related to direct bloodline relatives. Having been in the nursing field for many years, I know how important this history can be in the treatment and early diagnosis of illness and diseases. I also learned that my grandmother had 54 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 23 great-great grandchildren! Can you imagine what the Christmas holidays could have been? Family reunions???

My husband's family held a reunion in August. As part of that, they collected and created a database of a large portion of his family with all the pertinent dates for weddings, marriages and deaths. One missing component is the health history (but that can always be added later).