Poking the hearts

Have you tried the new Family Search website? It's pretty awesome. Some people's eyes glaze over when you talk about family history because they think it's all digging up names and dates. Other people think that it's all been done because some distant aunt or grandmother filled out all those forms.

But there's way more to it than that, as this updated website shows.

It lets you post photos of your ancestors and share some of their stories. That takes them from being names and dates to being real people.

We found one of our ancestors, John Niels Beckstrom, was a rather dapper looking gentleman with a top hat and fancy mustache. As an early settler of the Salt Lake Valley, another ancestor described the sounds and the smell of the crickets during the cricket and seagull incident. That's something I never thought of, and makes it more vivid, more real. We also discovered that one side of our family is descended from none other than Thor...and Mrs. Thor. Instead of family reunions, we assemble.

Check out the site; check out your heritage. It's probably pretty cool. You could be descended from a superhero, too!