Here are some reasons to get you started:

1. Start with what you know – talk to everyone in your immediate family, then progress to your extended family, and talk to anyone willing to talk to you. Gather memories, stories and dates.  That family rumour that has been floating around for years could have a grain of truth to it, why not investigate it?
2. Researching your family is important to understanding where you are in the world, your family story, where you came from and how your family got to where you are. Learning about the people who shaped your life and that of your family can help you see where you fit in the world.
3. Knowing your family history is important for health reasons, in case there is anything medical that you need to know. Knowledge is power and in this case, it could help in prevention or early treatment of illnesses coming down the line.
4. Future generations might want to know about you and your family’s story, wouldn’t it be great to have the knowledge to share? Local and family history gives a real insight into the life and times of a place or a time in history.  Newspapers and television give the bigger picture but family stories can tell what it was really like on the ground and how a particular event affected real people.
5. There has never been a better time to explore your history as there are now so many records available, particularly online with web tools such as Irish Ancestry.
6. Get started before it’s too late. The more I visit graveyards on my travels, I notice the stones are weathering and the writing is becoming harder to decipher. A lot of graveyards are documented but some are no, so do get cracking before it’s too late!