Hello and welcome! Family is a huge component of what makes us who we are. As a child and then even as adults we yearn to hear how we fit into the branches of our family- what traits of ours both physically and culturally are consistent with family patterns.That I hated gravy just like my grandma and I have the bone structure of the Lauby's and  my attitude was directly inherited from my father are the things that provided me with both reasons and assurance for why am I a unique individual. I have seen it in many kids that I have worked with, making connections to family is an important tool to making things relative to a child. To understand and learn about family is to strengthen everything basal to a child. Thus I think it is important for me to gather as much as I can about my children's history so that they may see the entirety of the "ingredients" that created only them.  As a historian, family history is also basal to analyzing history. I once listened to  a historian speak about the importance of family history if we are to ever be  competent in understanding the history of others. Just as psychologist often enter  their field to better understand their own psychological state, I think historians  enter their studies with their own history as a constant undercurrent to their  motivation.