Sharing such information with others is often repaid in new information from others. This process of sharing with others is part of the pleasure of genealogy for me. In September 1996 it had over 135,000 names, and we will soon release another volume with over 250,000 names. This quickly leads to a broader understanding of history and geography. For me another unlooked for benefit of doing genealogy is that much more world history, geography, economics, and religion are now linked to people who are interesting to me.
Genealogy provides a way to see ancestors as more than entries on a family tree.
Instead, they become pioneers who faced incredible challenges with courage and faith. In many ways our ancestors have blazed a path for us into the future. Many years ago I came across an old bookkeeping ledger that a distant relative had kept for many years. On the first few pages were records of his financial dealings, but as I turned the pages I discovered that he also had kept family records in the same book. I read with interest the genealogies he had written.