Beginning Your Search for Your Family Tree

The details on how my family arrived in America have been passed down by various members of my family. The accuracy and detail of these memories have diminished with every retelling. Some of my family arrived in America so long ago that all that remains of their experiences are rumors and stretched truths. As a story gets retold over and over it loses much of its accuracy. While much of my family history relies on this kind of storytelling, there are some in my family who were alive and experienced the challenges faced by immigrants. Though born in the United States, my maternal grandfather, Sebastian Passantino, was very familiar with the hardships of being an immigrant.

As I embarked on this assignment I was unsure how to begin and what stories to tell. I did not know if I should commence with how my family came to America, my family tree, or a fascinating story about how my grandparents met. In order to complete this assignment I convened with my grandfather, Earl W. Stafford Sr., who knows a lot about our family history, to learn as much as I could.

To start my family origin paper we have to go way back to 1976 when my parents met in Alamo, North Dakota; a town of about 200 people in the northwestern part of the state. They met while going through school playing sports, mainly basketball. Both were pretty good at the sport and won some awards and had chances to play more but decided to get married and start a family instead. Both grew up around the whole farming scene. My mom actually lived on a farm growing up and also as she started her own family. My dad lived in the small town but his grandpa had a farm not far from where he grew up and also helped a lot of the local

Origins of a family have meaning and history. By keeping track of family relations also known as a family tree it can allow us to keep records of the past. The Edwards family tree shows great record from the early 1700 's to the mid 1800 's. This family tree demonstrates when a person was baptized; when they got married; and when they passed away. The Edwards family chart show the different relations of marriages and fertility rate from today 's society. From the chart we can determine that the Edwards family show a different demography compared to todays society. This is because life expectancy was shorter; families were larger; and finally marriages were happening at a young age.

A very little to almost none is known about my family history because of the backwardness of the eastern culture as opposed to that of the west. Our forefathers are said to have been nomads all their lives searching pasturelands for their cattle and cultivating land for the subsistence farming. They bartered animals for salt, hides, clothing, etc. Civilization remained unheard to them until after mid-eighteenth century. Our

Without fail, when someone discovers the stories in their own family tree, they become empowered and inspired. I know this from personal experience, because eight years ago, someone helped me discover my lost family legacies, and it changed me forever. I found stories of great sacrifice, courage, conviction, service, struggle, conflict, diversity and triumph. Some of my ancestors lived in a cave for the first few years and purchased land rights from the Native Americans who helped them plant new crops and build

My tree is set to private, but I'm willing to share it to those with surnames listed on my research list. I'm constantly researching and to any cousins past the levels not able to trace, I'll be in touch when can find any leads.

I started a family, researching into genealogy last year. I found distant cousins through trees and Ancestry DNA. Jaguanana reached out to me on Ancestry our DNA predicted us 1st-2nd cousins by

Though I felt dread, I also felt lucky, because my own family’s transition into the U.S. seemed suddenly quite simple. In the early 1900’s my grandmother was believed to have been kidnapped and brought “illegally” across the border, but all children born to my family after that were U.S. citizens by birth. I began to think, the mother to that girl came here to the U.S. to be an American, and though she may not legally be an American she is still an American

learn about not only great people in our history, but family. I am proud to say that I am related

Growing up I have held on to single story about myself as well as my family. My parents are both from Guyana, South America. They came to America in their twenty’s to make a life for themselves. A lot of their families still live in Guyana till this day. I do not know a lot of them, but the ones that are in America

The target audience plays a huge role in determining if a traditional publishing or self-publishing method will be used to print a family history. While the Larson family history might appeal to some people, those who have the most interested are family members. The manuscript will cover five generations, with stories and pictures. The main purpose for publishing this family history is to share family stories with immediate family members and extended family.

Do you ever ponder about how and why your family came to America? Most of the material I’m about to talk about is history of my family.

Family history is very important to an individual. By knowing where you come from, you can have a better perspective of your life. Having a clear understanding of your family background allows you to better appreciate the things that you would normally take for granted. The house, the car, and the average clothing may look better when one sees the sacrifices their family has made. They will see that their family has worked very hard just so their family can experience the better things in life. A persons roots and origin is one of the most important things to explore. It alone can bring you closer to self-discovery.

The family tree is an incredible nonprofit agency located in central Maryland in Baltimore city, with many programs for children, adults, and the community as whole. The Family Tree is the perfect combination of its predecessors “The Parents Anonymous of Maryland” and “The Child Abuse Prevention Center” in diversity, techniques and procedures and funding. While continuously succeeding, the Family Tree, still looks at their mission to guide them, which is, “Improving the community by providing families with proven solutions to prevent child abuse and neglect”(Thefamilytreemd.org). The family tree might be a relatively new agency in itself however, it is also a strong support system the community needs.