Ancestry: Knowing your families story!

I have always been very interested in my family history (the story of my ancestors, who they were, what part of the world they came from, etc.).  So a few years ago I started a free 14 day trial with Ancestry.com (http://home.ancestry.com/).   I recommend this first step for anyone interested in their family history.  With the free trail you have access to limited things, but you can still set up your family tree with what you know and add to it as you learn new information.  Well, a couple of years ago I received a 6 month USA only membership for Christmas to do more research, that gave me access to all of the records they had.  I was amazed by what I discovered!!

I found out that my family has ties to the American Revolution, The War of 1812 and The Civil War. I also found out that my family immigrated here for several reasons. Most did it by choice, they came here searching for a new land, a new life and a place to raise a family.
 I did find out that a couple of them came here as indentured servants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant).
I also found out that one even came here because he had been convicted of a crime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation).
His punishment was to be sent to the new world all alone. I have not been able to find out what his crime was, that is just one of the secrets I still have to uncover.

Most of the ones who immigrated here for a new life came into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and traveled down the Great Wagon Road south(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wagon_Road).
I guess they liked the land and the area so good, they just decided to stay. (I'm so glad they went south, I love being a southerner!)  I like to think that maybe some of them came here with the hope of getting rich. As far as I know none of them ever did succeed in that, but they did find a new home and a place to raise their children.  I am very proud of my heritage, all parts of it, even the parts some may consider to be non PC (politically correct).  My family had a part in the history of our country from the very beginning.  They worked very hard as many other immigrants did; farming the land, raising their crops and their children without asking for anything and they fought for freedom for themselves, their descendants and all Americans that would follow after them.

Please take some time to know your history. I bet there are some amazing stories for you to discover. Just learning about them will give you a whole new outlook on life. I think knowing your history in very important, in fact I have always told my girls, "You can't know where your going, if you don't know where you came from!"

"That's my "two cents worth", what's yours?"