Americans Lack Family History Knowledge

A survey conducted a few months ago by The Generations Network reports that few Americans know very much about their family trees. Among other facts, the survey discovered that:

• One-third of Americans cannot name any of their great-grandparents
• Half of Americans know the name of only one or none of their great-grandparents.
• Six out of ten Americans do not know both of their grandmothers' maiden names
• Twenty-two percent of Americans don't know what either of their grandfathers do or did for a living.
• Although America is known as a nation of immigrants, 27 percent don't know where their family lived before they came to America.

Is this a problem or an opportunity?

Commissioned by Ancestry.com and conducted by zOmnibus Survey, the survey does make some positive statements. For one, the survey reports that 83 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds are interested in learning their family history. Following closely are the 35- to 54-year-olds at 77 percent and Americans aged 55+ at 73 percent.

It strikes me that there are millions of Americans who have at least a casual interest in their family trees but have no idea how to get started. I am particularly impressed that younger Americans reportedly are more likely to be interested in their ancestry than are senior citizens. That is the reverse of what I would have expected.

This is an opportunity for commercial companies and non-profit societies alike. A potential marketplace exists. The biggest difficulty is in identifying that audience and reaching them. Traditional advertising methods are prohibitively expensive. What we need is "grass roots" advertising. That's where you come in.

In your casual conversations with non-genealogists, you might ask a few questions:

Where does your family come from?

What did your grandparents do for a living? How about your great-grandparents?

Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?

Can you remember any family stories that were told to you as a child? Do you believe those stories are accurate?

Did your family have any memorable holiday or other traditions that were passed down from previous generations?

Of course, when the other person says, "I don't know," you should be ready to step in with a few suggestions of good books for beginners, the address and meeting dates of a local genealogy society, and perhaps a few web sites of genealogy interest. Hey, send them to THIS web site!

If you and every other genealogist in this country can start "spreading the word," we can greatly increase the percentage of Americans who do know about their roots.

You can read more about the survey at http://tgn.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=115.

Comments

[Infinite Ancestors]

It would be interesting to se the statistics for a typical genealogy audience, e.g., EOGN readers. My two cents: I'm 100% on the first four bullet points above. But the fifth ("Although America is known as a nation of immigrants, 27 percent don't know where their family lived before they came to America." is tricky unless all of your ancestors are "relatively" recent. I know the immigrants in various of my lines between the going back as far as the 1500s, but a number of my brick walls are already in the US.

[Jude]

Last Thursday, an ESL student at my high school asked me to review 100 years of US history in 15 minutes to help him answer an essay question. In 15 minutes, I mentioned ancestor after ancestor. It turns out that I now view history solely in relation to what my ancestors were doing. Potato famine? My Irish ggg-grandmother emigrated to Canada. California Gold Rush? That's when my gg-grandpa Thompson emigrated from England. I'd say I'm disgustingly the opposite of someone who doesn't know about her ancestors. I once challenged a young black student at college to interview her parents over Christmas break about her ancestors. She'd lived a live of privilege, so she was shocked to hear about *their* lives, (both had been in the first wave of students who desegregated schools), not to mention her recent ancestors who had been slaves. I'm not sure why they'd never bothered to tell her before, but I'm glad she learned when she did.

[Ken Spangler]

Perhaps the reason the numbers are so high is because all of the ones interested in genealogy and family history were at the courthouse, library, a graveyard or at home researching on-line!

Quite a nice survey though and an interesting point you bring up!

[Israel Pickholtz]

It would be interesting to examine the "grandparents information" statistics, after removing those respondents who have one absent (or unknown) parent. I mean, if you don't know anything about your absentee father, you can hardly be expected to know anything about his parents.
That skews your statistics significantly.

[Israel Pickholtz]

PS - The eyesight test you run before we are allowed to post is very difficult and I always fail once before getting it right. Maybe you need some more contrast.

[Judith Abbott]

I am one of those who falls into Israel Pickholtz' category. I know almost nothing about my real father--son of a doctor in Port something in WA! I know the genealogy of my mother's side back many generations. My children are not interested in anything but the present. Sad isn't it?

[Terri Mindock]

That high percentage in the younger group is misleading, based on my own experiences. Yes, they have an interest, but for them to actually take steps of any kind to learn about their ancestors is something they don't seem to be willing to do. I have an extensive family history published on the internet, available to my entire family, and not one of them looks at it or has ever looked at it. I have also put together family trees for friends and they look at it once for a short time (mostly looking at their own info) then lose interest.

[Bebe Brock]

I try very hard when finding anything new about the family to pass it on to my children (it may go in one ear & out the other). Like Judith I almos nothing about my biological father, so I'm working on my step fathers history, which he at 88 is taking a great interest in as he knew almost nothing.
I will look for your lic-plate as I am also on the east coast of Mass.
Bebe

[Nora Nell Thompson]

This is especially for Judith. I live in Washington State and I know of 4 places that have "Port" in their names. Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Port Ludlow, Port Gamble.

Port Angeles and Port Townsend are significant enough to have doctors. Port Ludlow is just a residential community, but her father could live there and practice in Port Townsend or even over on the Kitsap Penninsula.

Since I live in the area, I would be willing to help Judith if she wants to find out more about her biological father.

noranell1@gmail.com

[Nora Nell Thompson]

This is especially for Judith. I live in Washington State and I know of 4 places that have "Port" in their names. Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Port Ludlow, Port Gamble.

Port Angeles and Port Townsend are significant enough to have doctors. Port Ludlow is just a residential community, but her father could live there and practice in Port Townsend or even over on the Kitsap Penninsula.

Since I live in the area, I would be willing to help Judith if she wants to find out more about her biological father.

noranell1@gmail.com

[Frank Van Orden]

Neither of my children have much interest in genealogy, except for the occasional juicy tidbit like my wife's Mayflower background, or the pirate in my family tree. I rarely see anything but white hair in my local genealogy library.
But that's as it should be; young people are more focused on where they're going, not where they've been. It just points up the importance of preserving our data so they can access it later, when they become more interested.

[Athena]

I just read Jan Karon's new book "Home to Holly Springs". There is a chapter in it where a the central character recites his family history with his grandfather. As a very young boy, he knew his ggreat-grandmother's maiden name, her brother's name, his ggreat-grandfather's "real" name, as well as when, how, and why they all ended up in the where he was born.

It was a beautiful story and made me think more about how important it is to teach family history to children before they are even aware of how meaningful the infomation is.

[Helene]

How did you get a Massachusetts plate? Thought you were a westerner.

[MarilynH]

Well, I have been helping the cause in the past few years. I have done 11 genealogies for friends and co-workers who didn't know anything about their antecedents beyond their grandparents' names. They were appreciative and, I hope, interested enough to talk to other family members about it. I enjoy the challenge, so it's win-win.

[PatD]

Well, also guilty of the sin "why didn't I ask when I should have." I didn't ask my grandmother for the "stories" -- or didn't know what to ask. She, (my father's mother) could recite begats, and where the family was from, but I noticed later that most was from a monograph written by one of her cousins. She didn't know any "Oregon Trail" stories (her father was born on the trail), which were "interesting," so I didn't think to ask her about *her* story. Which, now pieced together from other kin, would have been as interesting. At the time I paid more attention to my mother's family, because there was at least one genealogist per generation there, and genealogy was always being worked on. And, discussed.

Our children are the same way. I am going to survey my own to see what they know and don't know. My bet is that they will know some of the stories, but not the names.

Nowadays I just try to put things down, and in perspective, and hope for the best. Like MarilynH, I do genealogies for friends and strangers. Heck, never know when one will turn out to be a cousin.

My hope is that people won't just know who their ancestors were, but *why* their ancestors were.

[Ann Tyson Sipes]

At age 51, I published the family history of my childrens' paternal grandmother's side of the family. My kids have gone to cemeteries with me since they were grade school age, then without any real interest. As they have "aged" and reached their 30's and 40's they are constantly referring to their grandmother's book. I have given all the kids and my siblings and their children the history on both my own mother and father's family. When a book came out on their paternal grandfather's family came out I got copies for them. As they are aging and going through life, all of them are sharing their family history with people in their workplaces. So if at first they don't seem interested as really young people, they will as they become parents and even grandparents now. And every so often in the past few years I have been getting emails from some of their co-workers, "I work with your son, and he says that my g. grandpa is in the book, could you tell me something more."

It will happen if we make it available. When they were younger in the car, they'd point out something on the opposite side of the road from one of those cemeteries they knew they would have to have a picnic in. Ha, ha. that's the way I was raised too.

Ann Sipes in KY

[Del Ritchhart]

I too am a bit surprised by the higher figures for younger people. I belong to four different genealogical organizations and frequently relate to others that over 70% of the genealogists I have observed are over 55 and of those over 70% are women. However, I continue to do genealogy and am converting my data into a book because I am convinced that as they grow older, my children and grandchildren are going to appreciate my work and pass it along through future generations. I didn't become interested in genealogy until I was almost 60 years old, so I can't expect my children or grandchildren to be much different. I have found it encouraging and interesting that I have received calls from four of my eight grandchildren (ranging in age from 12 to 21) within the past two years asking for help on our family history for a school assignment. I think it is great that the schools are requiring these children and young adults to learn more about their family history.

[Mary Lou Klemm]

I'm not surprised. Most of the younger people are so busy with their children and professions that they do not have the hours to spend on this. I can empty the room when I start talking about distant relatives.:) But when someone real interesting comes up, they wonder! I've had four people tell me I look like Barbara Bush. after
many years I was surprised with the One World Tree to learn we shared the same 9th great grandmother. It really is a small, small world. Many other surprises came. It's such a neat, interesting,
hobby... and I love the history that comes with it. The brick walls I could do without! It seems
some of my relatives came from outerspace as I can find so parents ... When the "kids" reach retirement, pehaps they, too will smile on this hobby.
My neighbor at a condo in Florida and I became friends and found that we were distant cousins as my early ancestors came from Rhode Island as did
hers. I do really think if you go back far enough,we are all related...perhaps distantly, but connected somehow. Peace to the world!!
And then when you consider the DNA.... what a
miracle our Maker did. Fascinating.
Happy hunting....never an end.

[john Travis]

Many people don't get interested in genealogy until they get older & then decide to "do" their family history. Little late then, all the people you need t ask are gone.

One of the best things I've seen is to write to your own great-grandchildren (born yet or not) and tell them what life was like in 2008 e.g. Answer all the questions you would like to be able to ask your own great-grandparents, were they still here. Make copies and put in a secure place for future generations.