About genealogy and traveling in the footsteps of your ancestors – Travel Friday

Are you interested in genealogy? Have you ever booked a trip to “follow in the footsteps of your ancestors” – that is, to learn more about your origins? I think that interest becomes stronger as you get older. As for me, I managed to turn 38 before taking time out on a weekend trip for the first time in my life to…

…exactly that, family grave. More specifically, a grave at Backen Church in Umeå, where my grandfather’s grandfather was a bell ringer. You know, the kind of trips you more or less had to voluntarily go on as a child, where the parents went around the country and the kingdom visiting various cemeteries and family farms. (By the way, before Christmas I sounded like an “old man” myself when I told my teenage daughter about the family grave in Umeå during our trip together to Umeå).

About genealogy and traveling in the footsteps of your ancestors

I grew up with a mother who was terribly interested in genealogy. The fact is that she periodically borrowed a microfilm reader to read the church books (which had previously been filmed on microfilm or microcard). She did a great job and managed to go all the way back to the 16th century, on both her and my father’s sides! My mother’s interest in genealogy rubbed off on mine eldest sisterwho has now taken over both genealogical research and contact with some of our relatives near and far. The world really is getting smaller – these days most things are digitized and several genealogy sites make it easy to search historical records online.

Americans seem absolutely obsessed with learning more about their origins. And I understand them! I was fascinated by the reality series myself“Everything for Sweden”where Americans with Swedish connections travel to Sweden to learn more about their Swedish heritage. As far as I’m concerned, I’m probably in the middle segment. I am neither obsessed nor disinterested. However, I chose to devote my ninth grade special work specifically to genealogy and how the world has changed over three generations. I notice how that interest increases every year. Or maybe it has to do with the situation in the world? The crazier the world becomes, the more anxious we become to ground ourselves and find our way back to our own roots. To the safe, to what we recognize. Back to basics. In 2018, when the ‘svemester’ concept was at its most popular, one of my Swedish Pearls trips went to Umeå. My thoughts from that trip have aged well:

”I am convinced that we Sweden will continue to want to s(v)emestra in our own country. Considering a weekend in Sweden instead of going abroad is a natural progression for conscious travelers who want to eat sustainable alternatives while on holiday. Besides the sustainability aspect, traveling within Sweden becomes a way to satisfy curiosity about the history of our country, and perhaps our own, and experience what is so close that it almost feels too easy to get there. As far as I’m concerned, it becomes even more clear when, during one of my visits to Umeå, I finally have the opportunity to visit the Backen church and my grandfather’s family grave for the first time.”

Whether you’re interested in family history or not, I suspect your parents’ travel patterns are more deeply ingrained in you than you actually understand!? My mother spent all summers on Öland and loved to take us children there. Fast forward the tape a whole bunch of years and you might be able to guess…

…that both me and my brothers and sisters also love that fantastically beautiful and special island.

What about you? Interested in genealogy or not? And have you ever traveled in the footsteps of your ancestors?

Cover image: My mother and her twin sister in Alvaret, Öland. Author: Annika Myhre/Resfredag.se