Genealogy is a captivating hobby for people of all ages. It’s not only an opportunity to learn about your family’s history, it’s a wonderful way to learn about yourself. As a senior, it’s also a meaningful way to spend time with the younger generations in your family, including your grown children and your grandkids.
If you’ve never taken the leap into the world of genealogy, it’s a great time to start
5 Benefits of Tracing Ancestry in the Senior Years
An increasing number of people are tracing their family trees. The multitude of online genealogy websites makes the process of tracking down family records easier than ever before. Older adults can also benefit from this fascinating pastime.
1. Develop A Deeper Sense Of Identity
By understanding where and who they came from, seniors can gain a deeper sense of their own identities. Knowing he or she is part of a family community with a rich history can provide your loved one with a sense of peace and satisfaction. Certain traits such as musical ability or a passion for serving others often manifest generation after generation.
2. Gain A Sense Of Pride
An examination of a family tree could uncover ancestors who had to overcome tremendous hardships and adversity or who made painful sacrifices to persevere and survive
3. Discover A Greater Appreciation Of History
For many people, history may mean nothing more than names and dates that had to be memorized in school. By relating historical events with family members who were directly connected to him or her, your loved one can gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the events that shaped the world today.
4. Connect With Long-Lost Relatives
Most genealogy websites allow members to publish their findings and share information with others researching common ancestors. Once your loved one embarks on building a family tree, he or she may uncover distant cousins or reconnect with relatives he or she has not seen in years. This can lead to in-person meetings and even family reunions where your loved one can share stories and reminisce.
5. Find A New Hobby
Pursuing hobbies offers valuable mental stimulation, which can help seniors maintain cognitive function. The fact that online resources make it possible to search records from all over the world from the comfort of home makes ancestry research suitable for seniors of all levels of physical ability.
Some website to help you start your journey are:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/ – The FamilySearch family tree is free, and even if you’ve never used FamilySearch before, you can easily connect to it.