We at the Hidden Branch want to introduce more teens into the world of genealogy!
Tyler, one of our Hidden Branch Members, did some genealogy research for his friend, Conor. Tyler looked into the family history of Conor’s grandfather and found his family’s past was a unique mix of Italian, German, and French immigrants, who came to America during the 19th and 20th centuries. Afterwards, Tyler interviewed his friend to see what he thought about all these new discoveries.
Q&A…
- Did you know much about your family history before this research was done?
“I didn’t know much about my family history before Tyler made the tree for me as a birthday gift. I only knew people from a couple of generations back and their nationalities, but I had never heard of anyone beyond that.”
- What was the most surprising/interesting thing you’ve discovered in your family tree?
“I found a couple of things surprising about my family tree. The first is that the majority of my past ancestors didn’t have my current last name. The ones who did have it only dated back to the early 1900’s. I found this interesting because I thought my current last name would’ve dated back further. Instead I found out that it just came up out of the blue, while other last names had been running through generations longer. Another thing I found interesting was how many kids my ancestors had. Some of them had over a dozen kids! I found this interesting because it showed me how big family trees really are, especially if you look into your cousins and distant relatives.”
- Do you think you will research other branches of your family?
“Yes! I will do research into other branches of my family! Tyler had done research on my dad’s side, so I am excited to look into my mom’s side of the family more! Tyler also gave me this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TETg5uOJdls; to help me enter more people onto my family tree.”
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“I really enjoyed researching my friend’s family tree. I got to practice my genealogy skills and it adds to my experience as an amateur family historian. I was proud of the work I did and I am glad he appreciated his family tree.” – Tyler