When actor Danny Dyer – cockney star of EastEnders – was revealed to be a direct descendant of King Edward III, media interest in genealogy soared. Millions of people, it seems, might be distantly related to the royal family.
Celia Heritage is a professional genealogist who works for Ancestry, helping people who need extra or specialist assistance with their family tree research. She credits the television programmes Who Do You Think You Are? – first aired in 2004 and currently in its 16th series – and Long Lost Family with boosting interest in family history. “The media interest in genealogy really brought an awareness of it into ordinary homes,” she says.
Knowing more about the lives of people in the past – with joys and struggles we can relate to ourselves – can help us respect them and make them real.
Heritage believes that genealogy gives people a wider picture of themselves and their roots. They can look into their own unique histories and discover things in their family that they had not known about. In a fast-moving world, where people may not live anywhere near their parents or grandparents, it can be hard to keep connected with the past. It may be particularly true if this past took place in another country or continent.
“We live in an isolated age,” she says. “I think [the attraction of genealogy] is about a sense of belonging, which is especially important if you don’t have immediate family nearby.”
In her book Genealogy, Psychology and Identity: Tales From a Family Tree, psychologist Paula Nicolson described the process of researching her own family history. “Tracing family histories informs our sense of who we are and our place in both contemporary culture, and geographical and historical space,” she wrote. As she carried on with her research, she discovered “insights into ways in which my hitherto scarcely known family history impacted upon my parents and in turn my own life”.
Research by Ancestry, commissioned with YouGov, discovered that 40% of the UK adult population – an estimated 20.9 million people – are looking for more meaningful personal connections in their day-to-day life. Fifty-seven percent believe that being connected to family is a key factor in driving wellbeing.
But how exactly can finding out about your family history help foster positive emotions? According to research published by the American Psychological Association, “self-continuity” – or the feeling that one’s past is connected with one’s present – is important to psychological adjustment and the development of identity.
Eve Menezes Cunningham is an accredited counsellor, and author of 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-Care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing. “Knowing where we come from can have huge therapeutic value in terms of understanding how certain traits might have evolved, and even by getting a better understanding of parents’ and other ancestors’ challenges and triumphs. We can potentially heal ourselves and our family trees while honouring and continuing the more positive traits.”
But might this interest fuel the solipsism that some feel is reinforced by today’s selfie-obsessed society? On the contrary, says Menezes Cunningham: “Understanding more about the family system means we are better able to empathise with others’ struggles.”
Nor is this the only benefit of researching your family history. “The appeal of genealogy is so broad. There is the personal aspect – where do I come from? Why do I look the way I do? – and also the detective work, finding the missing pieces in a jigsaw,” says Heritage.
This detective work is far more enjoyable than it used to be. Another reason why genealogy has become increasingly popular is the ease with which information can be accessed. Not so long ago, researching family history involved trips to records offices and searching – often unsuccessfully – through microfiches and heavy index books. But much of this information is now digitised, and a search that might have taken days or weeks can be done in minutes.
Ancestry has more than 20bn worldwide records online. Its family history subscriptions give members the opportunity to explore the world’s largest online collection of family history records. These include birth, marriage and death records, censuses, military records, other users’ family trees, and historical images.
“Ancestry is a portal to all the records you need to start,” says Heritage. “There are the core sources as well a lot of search tips, with plenty of information to educate yourself.”
Finding out more about your roots, the places and people in the past whose lives shaped your own, can be done from your own home, on your own laptop. Their stories are there waiting to be discovered.
Discover your backstory by charting your family tree. Start a 14-day free trial at ancestry.co.uk
