Are you related to someone famous? You might be related to a member of royalty or a powerful political figure. May be related to a person's business success or a famous celebrity. How does it feel to find that is related to Bill Gates, Brad Pitt or Oprah Winfrey? What if someone in their ancestry was a leader of a rebellion or a war hero or the person responsible for discovering the cure for a disease? Can you imagine the thrill of discovering someone well in the history of your family? What if you have a family history of heart disease or diabetes, but did not know? These are all reasons to study their family history.

With the idea of "six degrees of separation" (popularized by the playwright John Guare and again by the actor Kevin Bacon), who has taken the world by surprise, it seems that everyone wants to know how we are connected to each other. In fact, many people want how many "degrees of separation" separate us from someone famous. To find these things, genealogy is one of the tools we can turn for help.

To give you an idea of genealogy help us to learn how people connect, consider this: President George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, is related to his 2004 rival presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry! How do they relate? Both share a common relative, Playboy magazine founder, Hugh Hefner, who is the cousin of sessions of both men. Do you see the genealogy of the interesting thing is yet?

In spite of what they might think of today's "modern" generation with their high-tech gadgets and apparently decreased libido to meet people face to face and instead of being online, it seems that a growing interest in genealogy and family history. Each person's interest in genealogy can be very different, they are going to find a missing relative, with the hope of discovering an inheritance, or family history in search of health. Despite our many reasons, one thing we all have in common is that many of us are looking for our family history.

Let's clarify a bit about genealogy and family history. Many people use these terms interchangeably, but not identical. Genealogy, in the simplest terms, is the science of relationships – How does one person to another by law or by blood (or both). The story takes the concept of family genealogy and more detailed. When history family research generally are not interested only in how it is related to another person, but is also interested in the stories of their lives. Genealogists can also study these things, but their intention is not to learn the stories, but to learn the facts that can lead to discover more relationships with others. If you study their family history, you'll be interested to know this stuff too!

Genealogy research can be difficult and long and rewarding and even fun! (Remember that you can discover the history of some interesting facts, forgotten or unknown to the family!) You may find that you feel like a detective or investigative reporter on the case of a mystery, determined to find the solution.

Where does your genealogy and history of treasure hunting in the family? Probably the best first place to start is with immediate family, starting with oneself. You have to learn to be a trained interviewer (do not worry – you can learn how to do this – I promise!). Start with your elderly relatives and make a series of questions to them (write or record the answers). Then, make trips to the library or file of documents in criminal investigations. Do not forget to study any of the images, illustrations and maps that can be found during its investigation. Each of these can give clues to their great advantage next to continue.

They are ready to begin your genealogy and history of treasure hunting in the family? Why not start now? You may find in connection with a famous history! You may find that you have an inheritance waiting for you in a long-lost relative. Or you can discover an important part of health information. Anyway, you have a lot of history to discover. It is best to start right now!

Jeff Kona is a genealogy enthusiast. For more great information on genealogy visit http://familytreeresearchsecrets.com.

Genealogy Center, Allen County Public Library