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Researching family history unlocks keys to the past – and, possibly, your future

December 10, 2025

[Editor’s note: This essay first appeared in the “Chapters of Our Lives” issue of PREMIUM Magazine, which featured personal storytelling.]

I’ve always been interested in current events, which led me to a career in journalism. I’ve also been equally interested in history — world, U.S., you name it. Check my podcast playlist and you’ll find that “History This Week,” “History Daily” and “The Ancients” are among my most played.

By extension, I always remember wanting to find out more about my history. That journey of discovery started in the early 1980s, when I asked my grandpa about his life story and wanted him to record it using my (then new) cassette tape recorder.

He talked about dropping out of school during the first days of World War I to work at Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma; while there, he contracted the Spanish flu and nearly died. In 1918, after a large oil discovery near Burkburnett, Texas, he joined a rush that included thousands of other men looking for work in the oil fields. That frenzy was later dramatized in the 1940 MGM movie “Boom Town,” starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

My grandpa eventually settled in central Kansas, and held a variety of jobs in the 1920s and ’30s — operating the back end of a fire truck for the Salina Fire Department, fry cook and waiter at a restaurant, blacksmith and welder. During World War II, he was a senior aircraft mechanic at a nearby military base and often worked on B-17s and B-29s for the Air Force.

Learning his story helped launch what has become my decades-long family history trek.

During that time, I’ve also discovered that I have two great-great grandfathers who fought on opposite sides during the Civil War — one in the 9th Alabama Infantry Regiment, which surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865; and the other in the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, a unit that a month later helped capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis near Irwinville, Georgia. In the early 1870s, another great-great-grandfather left Stockholm, Sweden, with his family and emigrated to the U.S.

So. Much. History. … Right in my own family!

The desire to learn more about my heritage than just names, dates and places — plus wanting to preserve those unique stories about major challenges and everyday life that might otherwise be lost — have motivated me over the years. If you have a similar inspiration to begin filling in your family tree, let’s get going:

Jasper Taylor, left, who served with the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry during the Civil War, sits for a photo with, among others, his son and daughter-in-law, William and Fannie Taylor, right, circa 1920. (Photo courtesy Jerry Rice)

Getting started

That first step is probably the easiest, because you should begin with what you already know — writing down the names, birth and marriage dates, places of residence and other details about your parents and then your grandparents. Bonus points if you can go back further.

And, if you don’t have every piece of information for each one of those ancestors, that’s OK. It’ll be easy to fill in many of those blanks later.

Then, it’s time to select a place where you’ll first enter the information and continue to add to it.

Ancestry.com, arguably the best-known genealogy website, says it offers access to 60 billion records from 88 different countries, including census data; birth, marriage and death certificates; and even 80 million scanned pages from 500K yearbooks — all of it searchable. MyHeritage and FindMyPast also boast billions of records, with the latter claiming to have the largest collection of British and Irish genealogy data available online.

All three have free levels, where you can build and manage a family tree, both online and via mobile devices. But if you want to access all those records, that’s going to cost you. Depending on the service and the level of access (records from the U.S. or around the globe, for example), the range is $25 to $60 per month; discounts are available by signing up for six to 12 months.

Ancestry also offers a one-on-one consultation with a professional genealogist for $149, and more comprehensive research help — from expert researchers, writers and designers — that starts at $3,700.

Looking for something subscription-free? One option is FamilySearch, which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to a robust website and mobile app, volunteers at hundreds of FamilySearch centers around the country offer free in-person assistance.

Other budget-friendly options include the National Archives, which has a “Resources for Genealogists” page with links to immigration and naturalization documents, military and land records, and passenger lists, plus information about conducting in-person records searches at National Archives facilities around the country, including Perris.

Many local libraries also have library editions of Ancestry.com and other subscription services, available for free.

Documenting documents

When it comes to documents, start with the 1950 census — the most recent one available. Personally identifiable information isn’t released until 72 years after each survey is taken, which was a promise of confidentiality the Census Bureau made to help persuade households to get counted. That “72-Year Rule” was made law in 1978, meaning the 1960 census won’t be released until 2032.

“The census is a really great snapshot in time,” says Crista Cowan, a corporate genealogist with Ancestry. “You can see everyone who was living in the household, how old they were, what grandpa did for a living and how much education they had. It also informs you about the kind of life they were living at the time.”

After scouring census records, Cowan recommends turning to draft cards.

“The World War I and II drafts captured biographical information for about 98 percent of men living in the country who were of draft age — whether they served or not,” she says. “The cards also include physical descriptions, occupation, information about the next of kin, and my favorite thing: [the draftee] actually signed them.”

So, if draft cards covered nearly every adult male in the country … what about the women?

“There are a lot of records for women, particularly starting in the mid-1900s. Before that, it gets a little sparse, especially the further back you go,” says Cowan, who points to city directories, voter registration lists (namely after the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920) and, her personal favorite, newspapers.

“The amount of detail that was often shared in small-town newspapers was kind of amazing — they were the Facebook of that day,” she says. “People were sharing what they had for dinner, who they played cards with the night before, babies being born and who was going on vacation. You see a lot of women mentioned in those circumstances.”

Sharing your discoveries

After doing your research, certainly you’ll want to share all those great family history finds — and there are lots of options for doing just that.

Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage and others make it easy to share family trees created on their sites with anyone, including non-subscribers. If you opt to build a personal website or blog, Hostinger, Squarespace, Wix and WordPress all have high marks from reviewers at CNET and/or The New York Times’ Wirecutter.

As for me, I’m building multipage profiles and stories about ancestors using Canva, with a plan to assemble them into a book. While the online graphic design platform has a vast library of pre-designed templates — all of which allow you to drag, drop and adjust text, photos and design elements — I found my favorite template on Etsy. Another source of inspiration: a family history book done by a longtime friend, who used Adobe’s InDesign.

Why a book? It’s a format that, to me, seemed to be the most universally readable — whether it’s grandparents and great-grandparents in their 70s, 80s and 90s, or younger, more tech-savvy generations.

Creating family Facebook groups is yet another option, one that has been popular in Cowan’s extended family.

“We use them primarily for sharing family stories,” she says. “The tree is really the framework on which to hang the discoveries you’re making. The end in itself are the family stories and connections that happen as we take information from the family tree and share it around the family.”

And it’s not just memories about first cars and first dates, college life, and recipes passed down through generations. Be sure to include family health stories, too.

According to the CDC, if someone has a close family member with a chronic disease such as cancer, heart disease or diabetes, “you may be more likely to develop that disease yourself, especially if more than one close relative has (or had) the disease or a family member got the disease at a younger age than usual.”

Sharon Epperson, a personal finance reporter with NBC, had long been aware that an aunt and grandfather died from brain aneurysms. But it wasn’t until after she herself survived a brain hemorrhage, at the age of 48 in 2016, that she learned a great-grandfather also died from the same condition. Epperson has since experienced a full recovery, and recommends people learn what they can about their family’s health history.

Cowan agrees. “In my tree, I’ve listed the cause of death for my parents and grandparents, and how old they were at the time,” she says. “That was important for me to be aware of the things I need to look out for with my own health.”

Here’s something else: It’s easy to go down rabbit holes and come up empty. All too often I’ve spent time researching one ancestor on a website like newspapers.com, only to get sidetracked. Sometimes for a couple hours. …

Did you know that purchasing a 1925 Ford Model T Touring Car, with its gravity-fed fuel tank under the front seat, will “make for greater enjoyment of life” and that “owning a Ford increases your earning power”?

I certainly didn’t until the day I went looking for information about my grandpa and came across an illustrated two-page ad from the car maker.

So, where will your search take you? There’s only one way to find out.

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Resources

Want to dig even deeper into your family history? Here are 5 places worth checking out:

Find a Grave – Photos and information about 170 million-plus gravesite memorials, all searchable for free.
Library of Congress – Expansive resource for city and telephone directories plus county histories from throughout the U.S.; there’s also an “Ask a Librarian” service and a vast collection of royalty-free images.
National Archives – Searchable information about each census, plus answers to frequently asked questions, dating back to the first survey in 1790.
National Genealogical Society – Founded in 1903, the Virginia-based nonprofit offers online courses and skill-building workshops. Also publishes a quarterly journal that covers a variety of topics.
Newspapers.com – Largest online newspaper archive has scans of more than 1 billion pages from 29,500+ newspapers, large and small. Requires a subscription.

Researching family history unlocks keys to the past – and, possibly, your future Orange County Register

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Researching family history unlocks keys to the past – and, possibly, your future

Getting started

Documenting documents

Sharing your discoveries

Resources

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