Family History
A Third Age Relationships feature
by our Relationships Editor

Family History or Genealogy has seen a huge upsurge in interest in recent years. It has gone from being the preserve of the few to being almost a national pastime for the many. And why not. Our ability to research our family history has never been greater, and there is something about these troubled times that tends to make us want to look backwards and to delve more into our own history. And even though this upsurge in interest began in better times when people seemed to have an abundance of time on their hands and limitless money in their pockets, this trend continues today almost because of the troubled times in which we live.

If ever there was an ideal time to research our Family History, our Third Age seems as good a time as any to do it. For many of us, we have more free time than we are used to. Hopefully the same can be said of money although the sums involved are not great at all. But it seems an ideal time not only to reflect on our lives and to discover from whence we came, but to pass on that information to the next generation so that they too have a better understanding of their own personal history.

For many of us now in our Third Age, we were not as fortunate as today’s younger generations. Our parents were invariably busy people, many of them working five and a half or six day weeks and some of them holding down part-time jobs as well. Not only did they not have the time or the money to delve too deeply into their family history, the facilities we have today were not at their disposal either.

On top of that, the generations that immediately preceeded ours had suffered a couple of World Wars. They did not want to look back because it invoked little but bad memories. They only wanted to look forward to better times. So for many of us today, our family history, or at least such of it as was known by our parents, passed with their passing.

Today however, things are different. We have the opportunity and maybe even the obligation to teach our children something of our own family history so that they in turn can pass it on to their children in order that they might have a better understanding of their past than we do.

So if you would like to trace your own ancestry and leave a family tree and the history of your family to your own children, why not start today by visiting…

Who Do You Think You Are Collection (Series 1-4 and ‘How to Trace Your Family’ DVD)

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