WCVB Channel 5 Boston – A new exhibit in Boston aims to be the start of your journey in genealogical discovery.
The Family Heritage Experience at American Ancestors on Newbury Street has both the questions to kickstart your research and the tools to help you answer the question, “Where did I come from?”
“There’s one of you,” said CEO and President Ryan Woods. “You have two parents, four grandparents. If you go back 10 generations, about 250 years or so, about the point of the American Revolution, you have more than 2,000 cumulative ancestors.”
That can be a daunting way to think about your family tree. But the non-profit’s interactive exhibit features a wall of frequently asked questions from visitors that could be your entry point for building the tree.
Are there newspaper stories about my family?
Did my ancestors come through Ellis Island?
Were any of my ancestors rich?
“Discovering more about your family history is a life-enriching experience,” said Woods, noting that the digital revolution and advancements in AI indexing tools have democratized access to genealogical information.
The non-profit family, history, heritage and cultural center is also embarking on an ambitious journey to identify the 10 million enslaved people who lived in the United States. For their descendants, the search for names and stories often hits roadblocks.
This collaborative project aims to prove the existence of records paving the way for answers.
Watch the video above to see the ways this exhibit can kickstart your journey to discovery.
