What motivates us to seek our ancestors?

A friend once recounted his standing in the monument pavilion on the outskirts of Nauvoo, Ill., and how his eyes fastened to a plaque as he read each name engraved thereon.

The plaque was a memorial to the Mormon pioneers who did not survive the trek across the plains to Utah. Our friend asked himself: "What about my own ancestors? Is there a plaque for them? Has any work been done to find them and pay tribute to their lives?"

Later, he found himself at a pioneer cemetery examining crumbling headstones with the same questions about his own ancestors. Although none of his ancestors would be found in Nauvoo, he looked meticulously at the names on headstones.

A few days later, he called and asked if we could meet. He had questions regarding his own ancestors. When we met it was clear that he had a deep hunger to know more about them. "Where do they come from? Do any records of them exist? What were their lives like?"

Fast-forward a few years. My wife and I found ourselves with our same friend on the other side of the Atlantic, meandering through cemeteries in his ancestors' homeland — the beautiful emerald isle of Ireland. Together we studied the weathered headstones, looking for names, dates and places of his ancestors. Excitement filled the air each time one of us read out a family name.

What is behind this drive, this yearning of our friend to search for his ancestors?

Alex Haley author of the book "Roots" defines it: "In all of us, there is a hunger marrow deep to know our heritage — to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness and most disquieting loneliness."

Today at the microfilm reader, my wife found an ancestor's family. She ponders how the mother must have felt at the deaths of her infant children. What grief the mother must have endured! Their lives were filled with challenges, sorrows and joys, much like ours. Learning about them helps us understand ourselves better. But where do we begin as we head down the path of finding our ancestors?

Good advice offered on this topic is given in the following statement:

"It's a matter of getting started. ... Get a cardboard box. Any kind of box will do. Put it someplace where it is in the way, perhaps on the couch or the counter in the kitchen anywhere it cannot go unnoticed. Then, over a period of a few weeks, collect and put into the box every record of your life, such as your birth certificate, your certificate of blessing, your certificate of baptism, your certificate of ordination and your certificate of graduation. Collect diplomas, all of the photographs, honors and awards, a diary if you have kept one, everything you can pertaining to your life, anything that is written, or registered, or recorded that testifies you were alive and what you have done. Don't try to do this in one day. Take some time on it." (President Boyd K. Packer: "Your Family History: Getting Started" Ensign, August 2003)

When you've finished gathering your own records, begin to collect any records you have on other relatives and ancestors. Focus on this first step, take a look at the information you already have, gather it, organize it.

We will address the next steps in future blogs.

Russell Bangerter, president of A Ancestral Connections Inc., graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in family history/genealogy. After an LDS mission to Scotland, he served 10 years in the U. S. Army Reserve and Idaho National Guard as chaplain's assistant, where he worked with records.

Bangerter researches professionally, writes and compiles family history books, and enjoys lecturing on the subject. He can be contacted at www.ancestralconnect.com or 801-254-9023. He and his wife reside in South Jordan, Utah.