Why Genealogy

I transferred to Signature School in fall 2002 at the beginning of my junior year.  Signature had just made the transition to a full-day high school, having previously offered AP courses to local students on a half-day basis.  Signature is a charter school, which is a public school with a specific mission.  Its mission, as quoted on the school’s website, is “to meet the needs of self-motivated learners in a progressive environment driven by global concerns.”  As part of this global education, students were required to participate in a courses such as Multicultural Awareness, which was taught by Ms. Dixon.  It was in this course that Ms. Dixon assigned a project in which students were to research their family trees back to their great-grandparents.  Long story short, I took this assignment and ran with it.  I quickly got to my great-grandparents and couldn’t stop.  Fifteen years later, and I’m still going.

Genealogy is like a massive, never-ending jigsaw puzzle.  Each birth certificate, tombstone, and newspaper clipping is a puzzle piece that requires careful examination to see where it fits.  When I take a step back from the puzzle to admire my progress, I have a greater picture of who I am and how I fit into the world.  The world would be a better place if more people took time to research their own family histories, and see how all of our puzzles are ultimately connected.