Not since Alex Haley’s groundbreaking “Roots” has genealogy been so hot. It is now, according to the National Genealogical Society, the nation’s third most popular hobby (behind stamp and coin collecting). In this period of increasing ethnic entrenchment, people are eager to place themselves in America’s immigrant history. New aficionados are helping genealogy shed its moldy, archival image. Research used to involve “just family Bibles and hearsay,” says Sandra Ogle, of the Napa Valley Genealogical Society. Now a thorough search has all the suspense of a good mystery novel, including forays into musty libraries, weed-covered graveyards, computer files and Ellis Island archives.
Amateur genealogists have more resources than ever. The 12,000-member National Genealogical Society in Arlington, Va., has a free lending library, a computer bulletin board and a directory of professional search firms. A caveat, though: some firms promise a grand family tree, then deliver a rambling list of people with the same surname. Says Jane Moyer, who runs the Genealogy Publishing Service, “Sure, you’ll be in that book-but you’ll be in the phone book, too.”
African-Americans face an especially tough challenge in tracing their families. Documents from the South were often burned, and some slave records omit names. Lloyd Washington, a member of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, has traced his family back to 1732 and his white ancestor Dudley Hayes. Another forebear, of mixed race, fought in the Civil War, for black freedom. “Genealogy is important-for black history in particular,” he says. “It’s important to know that we’ve been in the country making great strides for 200 to 300 years.”
Of course, searches don’t always produce such lofty legacies. Winifred Armstrong, a New York-based economist, helped trace her family history to 14th-century Wales. They got the name Armstrong, she learned, when one of her relatives saved his king in battle by pulling the leader up onto his horse by the royal thigh. Thus the family shield: a bloody arm grasping a thigh. “It’s the ugliest family crest I’ve ever seen,” she says. Proof that even from 600 years back, our ancestors have the power to enlighten us–and embarrass us as well.
