Why bother with family history at all? 

What possible help could musty old stories about dead Schoepke, Anderson, Buchanan or Wheelers be?                

t would seem that there are enough things to do in a day requiring our attention we should be content to go about our daily lives and be filled with those things that are in the here and now. The mortgage needs paying. The cable TV isn’t working right. The kids need to go to a church activity. The oil needs changing in the car. There’s nothing in the refrigerator for dinner and tomorrow there’s the promise of another day just like today.  Why would reading and studying stuff about people who lived 50 years ago, let alone 200 or 300 years ago, be of any use? What good is history anyway? All those folks are dead and they lived before indoor plumbing and electricity anyway so how can they possibly be relevant to me today?

6 Schoepke sisters dress up like men and one Schoepke man dresses up like a woman in the 1920s

History, especially a personalized family history, teaches and reinforces what we believe in, what we stand for, and what we should be willing to stand up for. Family histories are about life, personal strengths and weaknesses, failures and triumphs. They show us that people are not perfect, nor is any generation free from error and mistakes. History is about cause and effect: the law of the harvest in action. It shows us just how much chance and genius and persistence and hard work affected the lives of others, and thereby will affect our lives as well.

Harry B Schoepke plays football in the 1920s. Harry Schoepke is in the tackle spot

History teaches us what choices there are.

To look at the lives of our ancestors is to see specific examples of the evils of prejudice, ignorance, and intolerance. Our family history also shows us how absolutely invaluable is the one person that chooses to live with real courage and honor. One individual, just one person, time after time makes such a huge difference in the outcomes of nations, cities, and the lives of countless others. And that difference can be for ill, or for good. History teaches us that if we would but read it for a moment.

History is also about appreciation, or ingratitude. To ignore history is to be absolutely ungrateful for all the contributions given to us at our birth. Where did our art, our science, our books, our sports, and our politics come from? Literally everything we have comes from the labor, thought and sacrifice of someone who came before us. Do you know why the light comes on when you flick the switch on the wall? The answer to that, and thousands of other questions is found in our family history. To ignore history is to ignore the hard work and sacrifice of the people who put that switch on the wall so you could have the indoor lighting to sit down and read and learn something worthwhile.

Alma Anderson came to the United States on the steamship Thingvalla from Sweden

Those who know nothing of history, nothing of the sacrifices made by others to build this country, and this family, have no sense of appreciation for what it takes to build something that will last. History gives us a sense of proportion, of the longer view of things. We are self-centered beings at our cores. The world revolves around us, around our individual needs. If we do nothing, if we study nothing outside ourselves, we cease to believe anything else matters. And nothing could be further from the truth.

We live in a time of tumultuous change. Everywhere we look there is something “new” and “improved” and the pace of change seems to accelerate every year. Technology races on. Medicine improves leaps and bounds. Our government grows ever larger and more expansive.  History teaches us however that our country was founded and began its life built on the idea of change. From the Revolutionary War straight down until today, our country has been built and thrived on the idea of change. Opportunity is driven by change. We have opportunities today because we have so much that is changing. History teaches us that those who adapt to change, embrace the idea, are those who prosper.

Ann Shepko (Schoepke) and Michael Gesell circa 1870 were some hard working farm folks

In our time, we have endured events like the tragedy of September 11, 2001. A tragedy it was indeed, but history teaches us that every generation has its tragedies. And each generation is measured by how it handles and either overcomes or succumbs to its tragedies. By historical standards, September 11 was a blip on the radar. Greater things than this have we endured and conquered in the past.

I believe that history is important to each of us. Not just in the civics sense, the sense that we can learn about governments and armies and nations. I believe that history, especially family history, helps us in the same way that music, art, and science enrich our daily lives. To be happy, to be a well-balanced individual, is not all work and money and the daily grind. We need a sense of belonging, and a sense of illumination to help us find our place in the world. As we enjoy a good song, we also enjoy a good story. Stories, which are the essence of history, pique our imaginations. They help us stay mentally alive when times are tough. Good stories, especially good stories that are true and full of excitement and we know actually happened, are so much the more valuable when the folks in those stories are your ancestors.

To not know of your history, where you came from and from what kind of people, is to cheat yourself of great enjoyment and a sense of belonging. To embrace your history is to begin to live a full and joyful life. History is important. You cannot be whole and live a balanced and joyful life without it. Go on, sit down and see what you can discover about yourself in the past!

Gustav August Gesell (right) shares a story and a good book with a friend (circa 1880)