“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 the most disquieting loneliness.” — Alex Haley, Roots

The quote by Alex Haley begs to ask the question, what legacy will you leave behind for your future generations? 

I started researching my family tree because I wanted to find out about my dad’s side of the family.  Back in the mid ’80″s, my parents had been divorced for quite sometime and I was at my Dad’s annual family reunion.  My father had just introduced me to one of my aunts and as we were walking away from them, he asked me if I remembered my Aunt, I said no.  A few days later, I was thinking about the reunion and thought that it was very sad that although I knew a lot about my mom’s side of the family, I knew so little of my dad’s.  So started my quest to learn more, not just about my dad’s family but to also find out who I got my nose from!  It has been a hard quest, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.  I not only found out about my grandfather, but of his brothers, and his parents as well.  I found out what a musically inclined, hard working family I come from.  I found documents online that shows my grandfather’s trek to California from Mexico, where most of his children are born and where a few have died.  It would have been wonderful if he would have just jotted down what he knew of his family and where he came from, it would have given me great clues and furthered my research even father. 

So what legacy are you leaving behind.  Are you going to let your future generations struggle in finding information on where you are from and who the family is or are you going to give them some clues by just jotting down a few notes???

I will be jotting down notes!