As we watch new growth spring to life this month, it may be time to make your research spring to life. Some people ask, ‘What is the point of all this family history research? Why do you do it?’ The answer is, of course, different for everyone. Some people set the goal of tracing their tree as far back in time as possible and amassing dates and names; others want to follow a specific surname and find out what geographic region it came from; still others want to see if they really are related to someone famous (or infamous).

For me it is about rediscovering and preserving stories of family lives. For example, one project I fell into resulted from an innocent question to my uncle: was it true that his grandparents had travelled through the mountains? In answer, he sent me photocopies from a little notebook that my great-grandfather had kept, recording where and sometimes when they had stopped for fuel or food or sleep on their trip from the farm in Saskatchewan to the West Coast and back.

The simple list was full of tantalizing clues and I spent the next couple months researching their route on old maps and piecing together the story of their 1926 journey. The research itself was fascinating and I felt I was time traveling when I read contemporary accounts of autocamps, newly opened ‘highways’ and the quirks of automobile engines. After mapping their route, I read about the places they saw and searched for old postcard images on the internet. I put all of this information together and wrote up the story The Prairie to the Port (and the Peaks Between) for my family. I gave all my sources of information and discussed my interpretations of the data. I had the book inexpensively printed and bound and sent copies to my aunts and uncles for Christmas that year. I am proud to say they were impressed and appreciative. Some of them had never known their grandparents and enjoyed finding out about them. My ultimate reward, besides recreating the story, was that my uncle sent me the original little notebook and I can now touch this little diary that had such adventures and travelled so far through space and time. I can trace my great-grandfather’s words and imagine him inscribing them with his pencil on the pages of this little book.

So, my tip this month is to bring a story from your family history to life. Perhaps you have a set of letters or postcards, a diary or snapshots to work from. Don’t let them hibernate! Help them flower and bring joy to your family. You never know what the rewards may be!

This article was originally printed in the Bergen News and is being reprinted with permission.