How important is your family history or lineage to you?
Not important in the slightest.
Quite interesting, but not important.
It’s important to know where you come from. Funny story, since I was a child I was told that my grandpa was Italian. So I always said I was black and Italian. I took one of those 23andMe test. Turns out I am 0% Italian. Really shatters what you think you knew about yourself.
You may still have Italian heritage - the reliability of these DNA testing firms has been called into question recently!
23andMe blames human error for DNA mix-up [zdnet.com]
Some Genetic Tests Apparently Can’t Tell If You’re Dog Or Human [futurism.com]
@Jnei lol really? I didn’t know that. Only reason I assume it’s correct is because my grandpa took one without any of us knowing it and his didn’t come back with any Italian either (found his out after I took my test). It said he was actually Irish. So now I’m Black and Irish lol
It doesn't matter much though I'm proud of my dad.
For me it is very important because we've lost history because on my maternal side they didn't want to talk about the Jewish family and on the paternal side they didn't want to talk about the Native American family
I don't know if it's important as such, certainly not to people outside my immediate family, but it was fascinating to trace my family back to 1696 using old census records and other documents.
I used genesreunited.com and thru that also found out some history about an aunt and uncle who emigrated to Australia 5 years before I was born which I couldn't get anywhere else but enabled me to make contact with my then 96 year old aunt just before she died, so it was really cool.
I was adopted as a baby and have not made any move to find my birth parents. I promised my mom I wouldn't so I intend to honor that promise as long as she lives.
Not really important. Unless I'm one of the Rothschilds.
In my teens and twenties I was zealous in tracking down my genealogical roots. I think I was looking for a sense of place that I'd never felt growing up. I can see where it may benefit me for medical reasons, but otherwise it's just interesting. My family are the people I've chosen to be in my life, and I'm who I make myself to be.
No importance at all and I have no family left above me - but I do have a name that only four other people in england have, which makes me smile.
I would like to know where my family came from. My father got as far back as 1750 and then the trail went cold. I often think of DNA testing to get a general idea but I'm suspicious that they might be telling people any old story because they can't check it themselves.
Genealogically it has no allure for me. Genetically it had some importance but I've settled that with testing.
Not important at all, but I'm interested in history, my own included.
Outside of curiosity, it means nothing. I got excited when I found out that our family line goes back to one of the first convicts sent to Australia from England.
@Faithless1 I know. I remember when it was considered to be an embarrassment which is why I had a bit of a giggle when I found out many years later how it had become a badge of honor to have a convict in the family. Oh how the time's change.
Fam history/lineage is very important to me. I'm part of a diaspora, and we know a lot about our roots and origins. The last 3 generations in my family all identify similarly in regards to faith and atheism though, so I think that makes it easy for me to embrace my history/lineage/roots. We are culturally still keeping up the traditions of our people though. Just not religiously.