Why I started my family history research with Ancestry

There are many different reasons why people decide to research their family history. From nosey-ness and blind curiosity, a desire to track down a mysterious family member, or finding yourself in a new stage of life – the desire to explore and understand more about the people who came before you can come out of nowhere but take you on a journey that is incredibly powerful, and ultimately life-changing.

We love that no two Ancestry customers are the same. You have all begun researching your ancestors and building your family tree for different reasons. So we asked customers to tell us why they first started their family history research and were touched by the responses we received.

Read our favourites below, and then share your own reason for why you started in the comments!

I wanted to understand the true roots of my family & honour those who’ve walked the path before me #familyhistory 🌳 #ancestryuk

— Vicki (@vickiredmond) March 11, 2019

I was born nosey & wanted to know more about my family histories

— Hunnybun’s Bracelets (@HayleyWhite36) March 11, 2019

I came across Old photos of people i knew nothing about!

— Chelsie Faulks (@ChelsieFaulks) March 11, 2019

I started researching my #familyhistory because all I knew 2.5 yrs ago was my late birth mother’s name & where I was born. Now I have seen her photo & my father’s, I’ve met people to whom I’m related and have 5+ generations of my direct lines all mapped out. Result. #Adootee.

— David Dobie (@DavidDobie2) March 12, 2019

I started researching my #familyhistory because I was a bit nosy about where my ancestors came from. No kings or queens found, but a brilliant pool of hard workers!

— Eleanor Andrews-Steele (@eandrewssteele) March 12, 2019

There were so many fascinating stories about people in our family and I wanted to work out what was fact and what was fiction. The ‘facts’ turned out to be so so much more interesting than I could ever have imagined…

— Vintage_Maggie (@Vintage_Maggie) March 12, 2019

I was given a Family Life assignment of a doll to carry in high school. In order to make it interesting, I wanted to name her a family name. So I started asking questions…

Fast forward many years, only 1 of my children has a family name. But I have so many branches & roots!😍

— Jennifer Hooper (@jennhooper) March 20, 2019

I wanted to learn more about my grandparents. Forty years later I have a number of family trees and am still researching!

— Shirleyannecook (@ShirleyaCook) March 12, 2019