(03.03.2017) By Kayla Perkins — Have you ever wondered about your family’s past? Have you maybe wondered where your family came from, who your ancestors were? If you have, Ancestry.com might just be the place with the answers you seek.
Ancestry.com is an interesting site, and not one a lot of college students think of as something that would be a fun place to visit. However, after starting my family tree on Ancestry in October 2016 I can say it is probably one of the most interesting websites I have ever visited.
My paternal grandfather has always been a mystery to me, because I never knew him and he passed away when I was young. His side of my family, however, is probably the most interesting to me based on what I found on Ancestry.
According to the site, his mother had my grandfather out of wedlock, which was a taboo of the time. However, despite this my step-grandfather married her anyway, and adopted her son, and that is how my father now has the last name Grimm. When I brought this up to my dad he was surprised, because he had no idea his dad was adopted.
Ancestry doesn’t just let you find stories like that, however. The site content is largely what members put on it, and often times that means there is a lot of pictures. If you’ve ever wanted to find old pictures of relatives, then Ancestry might be worth taking a look at.
Ancestry also offers DNA tests to find where your ancestors originated from. After doing the test myself I found I am largely Northern European (ie: Swedish, my ancestors were Vikings) and Irish, which I had no idea about.
Unfortunately, all the information Ancestry offers does come at a price, ranging from $20 up to $50 depending on how much information you want access to.
Ancestry does, however, offer a two-week free subscription, so if you’d like to find out your family’s past take a look, you might find something interesting.
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