Ancestry is a defined path of people who are your predecessors. Each of you has 8 defined lines of ancestry to research. These are the lines created by each of your grandparents. Why go back two generations? because those generations created the parents who eventually created you. They are the best beginning of the true diversity that makes up your existence.

Often we hear people declare their ethnicity as their Ancestry. My ancestors were Polish, German, or Italian or Spanish. While you may run into the occasional person who can prove this, there are others who by the very nature of their surname, assume that their ancestry is of a certain origin. They base their pride and existence on a fact that may be incorrect.

Think about your own ancestry. Your grandparents may have been from Germany, England, France, Spain, Africa, or a number of other countries whose populations, for one reason or another immigrated to America.

Let's compound this by reminding you that the world has been a rash of changing boundaries and territorial jurisdictions. While your family may have been from Germany, there is a good chance that they might be French, Austrian, Polish or Jewish in their older origins. Take that back one step further to before those map landmarks originated, and you may be dealing with Prussians, Mongols or Boars.

So what is your true ancestry?

Does it begin to become clear to you that this is where Heredity comes into play. While your Grandparents may have lived in Germany, their Heritage may have been Jewish. How will you know? Very simple on one hand, they may still be practicing the Jewish faith. But their is a great chance that in the last several generations, no public statement of Judaism has been shown. This happened because in Germany, more than once, the Jewish have been persecuted. So, when they left Germany, they hid their heritage or abandoned it all.

Heredity plays a part in the traditions and customs and ethnicity that we all employ. All families have traditional holidays and traditional foods that help to define them. Heredity goes beyond this to a more personal level. Your Heredity gave you specific traits and also specific nuances. Are you loud and boisterous, or are you quiet and reserved. Do you have a giant sense of humor or do you find things not so funny. Who do you look like in your family? Is your family always assaulting you with comments about who you remind them of? This is your heredity.

All great societies sent descendants to other countries. For hundreds of years, colonization meant expansion and survival of the old world. That spread of families throughout the world has assured that many of the old lines are still in existence today. There are individuals who proclaim with great joy their ancestry that belonged to a special place or event. it's sometimes amusing to hear, especially when that even only happened 2 or 3 hundred years ago. Almost always, that event is tied to one of the great colonization movements.

I heard a blazing discussion one time where the first person proudly proclaimed,
My Ancestors landed at Plymouth Rock !
The second person stood there for a minute and said,
My Ancestors waved as you came on shore.

So much for impact perspective.

As you search for your Ancestry, do it with the knowledge that your eventual Heredity may surprise you. Whether you are related to a King or a thief, you still have to understand how that happened to be. Thrive on the knowledge and use it to perpetuate your search. The further you dig, the more you will understand yourself.