COLUMN: Family history well worth the time and effort

I just got a new book in the mail and I’ve been poring over it for days. It’s not a best seller by any means, but to me it has great sentimental and historic value.

Hot off the press, this book is a volume of confirmation photographs spanning more than a century from the parish of three Lutheran churches where I grew up in Minnesota. Confirmands are listed from the very first class in 1897, and photos document the classes starting in 1910.

Confirmation in the Lutheran Church is a public profession of faith that follows a couple of years of instruction by the church pastor. Most of us remember these as long, arduous sessions of “reading for the minister” that culminated in a ceremony during which the pastor grilled confirmands randomly, asking them to recite scripture and answer questions based on Luther’s Small Catechism. Our answers invariably ended with the statement: “This is most certainly true.”

I found my dad’s confirmation photo from 1936. Back then it must have been a requirement not to smile in confirmation photos. Faces were pretty grim — even my class in 1971 is pretty sober-looking. Youngsters didn’t start smiling until the 1980s.

Two women in the parish put the book together. It was a big job because they also included current photos and addresses of all of the confirmands. Their efforts are now a valuable part of our church history and I’m thankful they went the distance to get it all together.

I’m intrigued with genealogy. When the TV show “Who Do You Think You Are” debuted a couple of years ago, following the family history of a number of movie stars and other celebrities, I couldn’t get enough of it. The show on TLC currently isn’t on the network’s schedule, but I’ve seen reruns on other channels.

Ancentry.com is, of course, a big resource for the show, as are census and church records. Digging into family history can lead to some surprising revelations and it’s not always pretty what lurks in a family’s past. Some celebrities have uncovered ancestors who were gangsters, deadbeat dads and town trouble-makers. Other find pioneers who rose above poverty and overcame incredible odds in their pursuit of a better life.

I’m very thankful my own family history has been documented on both my mother’s and father’s side of the family, and I have my own mother to thank for much of it. She took it upon herself to put together a book about both sets of my paternal great-grandparents’ descendants.

Mom drew out family trees long before there were computer programs that could have assisted with such a chore. She found and copied family photos dating back to 1878.

I was involved with a family history compilation on Mom’s side of the family. Relatives gathered the information and photos about three Swedish sisters who emigrated to America, and I type-set the 122-page book in 1988, even manually collating the volume.

These are treasured books that will be passed down to future generations. If I ever retire and have the time I’d like to go back even further into my family trees. I marvel at those who have tracked their history back a dozen generations or more.

From these snippets of history we learn more about who we are. Family traits among my ancestors seem to center on a strong work ethic and musical ability. I’d like to think I inherited some measure of both.

“Who do you think you are?” You’ll never know until you make the effort to find out.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.