I spent last weekend working at the Rootstech conference, a gathering of companies and individuals working to further genealogical research. While the main focus was using recent technology to facilitate finding your ancestors, one of the main themes of the conference was also finding and telling stories.

What became clear over three days is that our cultures are built on stories, whether those stories are of a pioneer family crossing the plains in the mid eighteen hundreds and the accompanying miracles or of the mythological battle of Gilgamesh or of why a family changed their name from Robbins to Robins (because one brother had a falling out with another).

Kim Weitcamp, a national storyteller and author, spoke on story and culture and mentioned that some of the story research suggests that teenagers who know their family’s stories are better able to manage stress in their life. This makes sense as it allows them to put things in perspective. It’s difficult to get too worked up over a test or teen drama when you know that your grandfather left school at age twelve to work fulltime in a coal mine to support his five younger siblings after his father passed away.

What are your family stories and are you sharing them?

“When a society or a civilization perishes, one condition can always be found. They forgot where they came from.” –Carle Sandburg