LaToya M. Sutton

I’ve always loved the movie “Roots,” and I’ve always wondered about my own roots. What story would they tell about my family? Who are the people who combined to make me who I am?

I decided early this year it was time to get back to work on my family tree. So, I went back to www.ancestry.com and signed up again. Needless to say, it’s been an incredibly interesting and difficult journey thus far. There’s so much I don’t know, it’s hard to know where to start.

Where I started was with my parents, of course. Then, I put in all the information I knew about my grandparents, all of whom are now dead. Having the obituaries handy helped fill in the blanks on names I never knew and dates I couldn’t remember. Luckily, one of my cousins on my mom’s side had started a family tree of his own and I was able to learn a lot from the information he already had.

The more I learn, the more fascinating my journey becomes. I’m searching Census records from the 1800s and early 1900s, trying to put together pieces of a puzzle. Just knowing the names of these people I never met excites me. I wonder what their lives must have been like. How did the married couples meet? How did my family members who were born in North Carolina and South Carolina end up in Georgia? What kinds of houses did they live in?

I have so many questions; I hope the answers will come.

All my grandparents are gone now and so are many of my other older relatives. It makes me sad that I never heard the stories about our family’s past. I guess I never took the time to ask. I want to know for myself and for my children, and their children.

Each new discovery inspires me to keep going.

Tags: alex haley, ancestry.com, census, family, family history, genealogy, roots