If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was a kid, I would have told you I wanted to be a veterinarian. So how did I end up becoming interested in researching the lives and stories of deceased family members?
My road to becoming a genealogist wasn’t very straightforward, there were a lot of detours on the way, but because of those experiences, I eventually wound up where I am today.
The Starting Point
As I said in my "About Me" post, my interest in Family History-Genealogy began when I was fifteen years old. My stake (in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) initiated a pilot program to get the youth more involved with family history. A member of the bishopric approached me and asked me if I would be willing to accept a calling as a youth family history consultant. I would be one of the guinea pigs in this new program. I had no idea what I was getting in to, but I agreed.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the initial starting point for me and that calling would change my life forever.
During my time as a family history youth consultant, I was asked to volunteer at the local family history center once a week to help patrons. I was a very timid and insecure teenager, so the idea of having to talk to people and help them with family history was terrifying. I intended to go sit in a corner by myself and just stare at my family tree. However, when a teenager goes into a family history center, it does not go unnoticed. The elderly patrons immediately spotted me and wondered what I was doing there. I explained that I was a youth family history consultant; they thought that was pretty neat. I became fast friends with each of them. Week after week, I looked forward to going to the family history center to help the elderly patrons.
The "Major" Decision
I continued to serve as a family history youth consultant for the next couple of years until I graduated from high school. I moved to Logan to attend Utah State University. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study, but if people asked me, I typically told them journalism. I had given up wanting to be a veterinarian ages ago, when I discovered I didn’t like needles or blood. I liked to write and take pictures, so I figured that journalism was a decent enough fit for me.
I still participated in family history while in Logan, as I was called to be a family history Sunday school teacher in my YSA ward. I just thought family history was following me around in all my church callings…I would later come to discover that it would influence other aspects of my life too.
At the start of my sophomore year at USU, I decided to really give journalism a try. I enrolled in a beginner’s journalism class, I went the first day and it was a complete disaster. That is a story for another time and I won’t go into detail, but needless to say, that was the point when I started realizing that journalism was not for me.
After that experience, I remember sitting in my apartment bedroom one-day thinking about what I should major in. The general classes that I needed were running thin and I would be wasting time if I didn’t pick out a major soon.
Then I had the idea to copy and paste all the majors on the websites at Utah State and BYU into a single document. I then went through the list and deleted all the majors I had absolutely no interest in and I kept all the majors that I could potentially be interested in. It seemed kind of silly, but it worked for me! Accounting? Nope. Dance? Forget it. English? Maybe. History? That’s a possibility. It went like this until I had come to the end of both lists.
One of the possibilities for me on the BYU majors list was Family History-Genealogy. I remember thinking,“What??? That’s a major???” (Little did I know, I would hear that phrase countless times later…) I was immediately drawn to the idea of majoring in family history.
There was just one problem.
I was at the wrong school.
One thing led to another, and I went through the process of applying as a transfer student to BYU. I was nervous that I wouldn’t be accepted and my whole plan would go kaput!
However, much to my relief, I received an acceptance letter from BYU in late October, to begin in January of 2016.
In December of 2015, I kissed Utah State goodbye and ventured off to prepare to start school again at BYU as a Family History-Genealogy major.
BYU and the Family History-Genealogy Major
Upon my arrival at BYU, I immediately got involved with the program. I volunteered at the BYU booth at RootsTech. At the end of my first semester at BYU, I applied to work at the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy as a research assistant. I began working there in April of 2016 and I worked there until I graduated, researching Nauvoo residents. I later was asked to get on a special project through the University of Virginia researching Nauvoo polygamists.
The BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy, where I worked for two years.
When I started researching at the Center for Family History and Genealogy, I knew that I was in the right major. I loved the challenge and reward of researching families. I loved knowing that they were real people, who lived real lives, and had real stories to tell. I loved feeling like a detective as I tried to figure out who was related to whom and where they were from, etc.
The Family History-Genealogy program itself was also very rewarding, I enjoyed being in a tight knit major, where I knew almost everyone. I made so many amazing friends that I plan to keep in touch with forever.
Some of my amazing friends in the Family History-Genealogy Major.
So, as I said before, I didn’t always want to be a genealogist. Well, I didn’t even know that I wanted to be a genealogist for a long time; it was a series of small decisions that lead me to where I am today, and I am so grateful for that.