The Importance of Knowing Your Family History

The steps you can take to learn more about where you came from

From the LifeMinute.TV Team

October 9, 2019

October is Family History Month and the value of knowing your family history starts at a young age. Decades of research from Emory University proves that children who know more about their family have higher self-esteem, are more resilient and have better scholastic performance. Understanding your family’s past, including the triumphs and struggles they experienced, provides crucial context about who you are and where you came from.

However, in a recent Ancestry study, 1 in 3 Americans were unable to name all four of their grandparents, and 1 out of 5 were unable to name just one of their great-grandparents. Despite this statistic, nearly 4 out of 5 Americans want to know more about their heritage and family lineage. And luckily, doing this is easier than you might think! We talked to Director of Research at AncestryDNA, Jennifer Utley, who shared the steps to start learning about your family history, from family tree building to researching historical records and taking an AncestryDNA test.