This Story Again

By Joseph Howell, Founder of Nomadic Roots Research

As a child, I often sat and listened to family members tell the same stories over and over again. The photograph above shows my grandmother, Alta M. (Fitts) Howell, my great-aunt, Eileen Virginia (Fitts) Lindskog, and my great-grandmother, Katherine “Kitty” Maude (Hunsaker) Fitts. Family gatherings like these were filled with stories, memories, and conversations that connected us to our past.

Like many children, I would sometimes think to myself, “This story again?”

At the time, I didn’t understand how important those stories really were.

Then life changed.

Within a period of only two months, I lost both my grandmother and my father. At the same time, I was newly married and expecting my first child. I found myself standing between generations—having just lost important connections to my family’s past while preparing to welcome a new generation into the world.

Their passing left questions unanswered.

There were family stories I wished I had listened to more carefully. Questions I wished I had asked. Memories I wished I had preserved.

I realized there were gaps in my family’s story that might never be filled unless I began searching for the answers myself.

What started as a desire to understand my own family history soon became a passion.

I began interviewing relatives, collecting documents, studying records, and learning everything I could about genealogy. The more I discovered, the more I realized that every family has stories worth preserving before they are lost to time.

Family stories often contain clues to our past—names, places, occupations, military service, migrations, and family traditions. Sometimes the stories are completely accurate. Sometimes they have changed over time. Either way, they often provide valuable starting points for research.

Over the years, that personal journey grew into more than thirty years of genealogy research. It led me to earn an Associate Degree in Family History and Genealogy from BYU–Idaho, complete the Boston University Genealogical Research Certificate Program, and serve as a Family History Consultant for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One lesson has stayed with me throughout this journey:

Listen to the stories.

Talk with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and relatives while you still can. Ask questions. Preserve photographs, letters, family Bibles, and family records. The stories that seem ordinary today may become priceless tomorrow.

For me, the journey began with stories I once thought I had heard too many times.

Today, I would give almost anything to hear some of them one more time.