While your fascination (or addiction) with tracing your family tree is very important to you, getting the rest of your family involved and excited about your ancestry is not always an easy feat. I know that I have spent a ridiculous amount of time researching my family tree and feel this great connection to my ancestors, while others in my family really just aren’t that interested. Not that they don’t like to hear family stories or see pictures, but the details fail to peak their interest and the connection I feel to these people who I research just isn’t there for them.
The question is how to get your family involved in your ancestry and family tree research. While they probably won’t be joining you in your endless search for vital records and information, there are many other ways that you can involve them in what you’re doing.
- You could start by creating a family tree webpage with all of the information you have laid out in an organized fashion. Including pictures, when available, on the site can really help to get your family involved in your family tree. When they see the pictures of people they know and love on the internet, they’re more likely to start feeling that connection.
- The holidays are the perfect time to get your family involved in your genealogy research. Caroline Pointer has some suggestions as to how to get them involved and some great genealogical activities you can do with your family during the holidays. The link for her article is posted below.
- Another idea on how to get your family interested in the work you have done to trace your family tree is to give out family tree books as holiday presents. It would give you the opportunity to not only distribute the information you’ve found, but to explain it to them as you gift it. Include copies of the documents and pictures you have found and even put in some family stories that you’ve collected from your family members. To be able to pass on the information of your family tree to the rest of your family and have them see their own words in print in your book helps to create that connection and also preserves their memories for generations to come.
