My son and his wife are expecting my first grandchild in September, a little girl! Last week I completed a quilt for the new baby.
As I spent time planning, cutting, piecing, and finishing this quilt, my thoughts turned to my own grandmother, Rebecca Bischoff Stevens.
I don’t remember a time when Grandma wasn’t in the middle of a project. She loved to crochet, embroider, and quilt. Grandma was very patient with my siblings and I who loved to spend time playing or watching TV from beneath the “tent” made by her quilt frames that held her quilt projects. As I got older, Grandma started letting me quilt a few stitches once in a while, which made me feel grown up and important.
One of my fondest memories is the weekend Grandma taught me how to crochet “granny-squares” using her scraps of yarn. I was so proud of my squares and the resulting afghan, although when I look at it now, it makes me laugh.
While my first attempts at creativity were far from impressive, a love of handwork and a desire to create beautiful things was instilled in me at an early age. When I create, I remember my Grandma. I can still feel her strong, soft hands guiding my own clumsy ones as I took my first stitches. Though she has been gone for 12 years, creativity is a tangible connection between us that spans generations and time.
As I reminisced about my Grandma while making my quilt, my thoughts turned to my new granddaughter and my hopes and dreams for her. I could almost feel her in my arms and picture her tiny hands as I used my hands to create something special just for her. I wondered if Grandma had similar thoughts about me as she was creating this baby quilt just prior to my birth:
I am so grateful for my Grandma and the legacy she handed down to me. I aim to keep that legacy alive as a tribute to her and as a connection across future generations.
Creativity is just one of many components of my heritage. As I learn about my ancestors and gather tidbits of information about their lives, I am constantly surprised and delighted by the connections I have with them. These connections help me understand myself and feel a sense of belonging with my people, my TRIBE.
What is Your Heritage?
What is YOUR heritage and why does it matter? Let’s start with some definitions.
Heritage:
1 – any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors
2 – practices or characteristics that are passed down through the years, from one generation to the next
To begin to discover your heritage, think about what has been handed down to you from your ancestors. Things like languages, family recipes, family traditions, family values, faith, talents, and trades are all considered a part of your heritage. A great place to begin your journey of discovery is with family stories. Ask your parents to tell you stories of their lives, and the lives of their parents and grandparents. As you begin to gain a sense of your heritage, you will be able to think of ways to pass it on to your own children. In addition to learning from living relatives such as your parents, here are a few online resources that can help you discover your heritage:
FamilySearch Memories – When you log in to FamilySearch, you can go to any person on your tree and view memories, including stories, documents, photos, and audio recordings about any of your ancestors. This works both on the desktop version as well as in the FamilySearch Family Tree mobile app. As you read the stories, make note of character traits, skills, traditions, etc. that are mentioned. This is your heritage!
With the new Fan Chart View of your Family Tree available on the desktop version of FamilySearch, you can also see how many stories each ancestor on your tree has attached to their page, click on their names, then go to their person page to view the stories and other memories.
Another resource for stories is All the Stories. All the stories is a website that uses your FamilySearch login credentials to gather every story that has been attached to ancestors in your tree in one place. Once you log in, you will see a list of stories on the left side of your screen, with approximate length in minutes. Click on any story to read it. This is a great tool that helps you access known stories quickly.
These tools work really well if you have a fairly full family tree with at least a few stories attached to each of your ancestors. If you only have a handful of stories and wonder how you can learn more, stay tuned. Over the next few weeks I will be writing about how you can discover stories through historical records created about your ancestors’ lives.
Knowing About Your Heritage Fosters Well-Being
Learning about your ancestors can help you acquire a sense of your heritage, but why is this important? For me, the most compelling reason is research conducted several years ago by Marshall Duke at Emory University. In his study, he discovered that:
“Children who know a lot about their family tend to be more resilient: higher levels of self-esteem, more self-control, better family functioning, lower levels of anxiety, fewer behavioral problems, and better chances for good outcomes when faced with challenges. Through family stories, children develop a sense of what we call the “multigenerational self,” and the personal strength and moral guidance that comes with that. When something challenging happens, they can call on that expanded sense of self to pull through.” [1]
Making the effort to learn about your heritage and share it with your posterity fosters well-being! For this reason, I seek to discover ways to help my children understand their heritage, and I will continue to do so with my grandchildren. Our ancestors were real people who lived through real-life experiences. Their experiences molded and shaped them, and the lessons they learned and traditions they created can continue through us. Creating a multigenerational network of these people is important. Their lessons for us and the impact they can have on our lives is valuable.
[1] Laird Norton Wealth Management, “How Family Stories Can Strengthen and Unite: An Interview With Marshall P. Duke, PH. D,”(https://lairdnortonwm.com/wp-content/uploads/Questions-and-Answers-with-Dr.-Marshall-Duke.pdf : accessed 08/05/2019), p. 1.
What are you doing to discover and pass on your heritage? If you would like a few ideas, the new In-Home Activities page at FamilySearch provides great ideas for discovering and connecting with ancestors!
