From 2009 to 2013 we ran regular polls on a variety of family history and related topics. We are introducing them again. They reflect those who respond, not the wider community. Nevertheless, the responses are interesting, and sometimes surprising.


323 people responded to the poll in February 2023. Here is a summary of the responses.

  • family discussion – 24% of respondents
  • family records – 21%
  • continued relative’s interest – 13%
  • search for name online – 2%
  • study at school/uni – 2%
  • enrolled in a course – 2%
  • a DNA test – 1%
  • Who Do You Think You Are? TV program – 1%
  • a milestone anniversary – 0.3%
  • as an LDS member – 0.3%
  • read a genealogy magazine – 1 0.3%
  • ad on TV or social media – 0
  • fair or expo – 0

Many respondents expanded on their choice or gave an option that didn’t fit one of the listed options. Following is a sample of some of the additional responses.

Family discussion

  • A discussion about not knowing anything about my mother who died when I was 2 years old
  • A few cousins were interested in gathering information, so we exchanged records and had a family reunion.
  • A mystery about my grandfather
  • Adoption — trying to find out where I was from
  • After my father’s death, I discovered that he had lived a lie all his life with regard to his parentage.
  • Both of my grandmothers told me stories of their youth in Tas or in Scotland. I waited until retirement to investigate further.
  • Child asking about ancestors
  • Finding my paternal grandfather, did didn’t know anything about him
  • Gr-gr aunt and grandma’s funeral 30 years ago talking about her grandma who emigrated from Scotland in 1851
  • I knew we were related to Thomas Hardy and wanted to know more.
  • In 1970, I married my 2nd Cousin, and as we were both from LARGE extended families, I began to document things so that I knew who all of these related people were.
  • My mother was a wonderful story teller and she got me hooked.
  • My paternal grandmother lived with us and told us the family stories and sometimes opened her box of photos and talked about the people in them.
  • Questions about the origin of our surname
  • When I was home sick from primary school Mum used the long white paper from the weetbix box to draw the family tree and explain how all my many great aunts and uncles were all related.

Family records

  • A family bible was part of an inheritance
  • A single birth certificate providing a surprise Irish connection
  • After my mother died, I found a heap of BMD certificates and burial plots needing to be sorted out.
  • Because I love history, family records were always given to me.
  • Checking gaps or uncertainties in family records etc
  • Curious about unlabelled photos in gg grandmother album …
  • Found old photos and newspaper cuttings in Mum’s tin box after she died
  • Found so many records after my mother passed away
  • My father in Ireland had done some research. Also my wife’s cousin in Australia. I took up the mantle on my retirement
  • The gift of a photo album on the birth of our child over 40 years ago, prompted the search to fill in the gaps
  • When my father died I found information on his grandfather, my great grandfather in a box. It spurred me on to start searching.

Continued relative’s interest

  • Grandmother had lots of newspaper clipping etc and Mum and I started to put them in order after she had had a stroke. With the clippings and her memory we were able to put a lot together.
  • Mother had an interest in the family and when she passed away found some old original certificates and old photos. Still doing the family tree 18 years later.
  • Mum’s cousin shared her hand-written/typed data when I was still in school & that got me interested. I eventually picked up the bug and continue to this day.
  • My father started work on the family and when he died I continued and was really hooked!
  • My Father was investigating his ancestry having discovered letters from his grandfather home to his father in Scotland. When my father died I felt obliged to continue his research and the bug bit me.
  • My grandmother and mother had some information but their interest was pre-internet. I inherited it all so continued.
  • My mother and my daughter were family historians long before I was.
  • My Nan knew all the hatches, matches and dispatches of the family.
  • My sister had done previous research pre-internet but tv advertising for ancestry.com prompted me to dig further

Study at school/uni

  • 1974 at primary school – a project to ‘do’ your family tree. I’m still going!
  • During a class for one of my uni subjects, we did a little family tree for ourselves. This started a lifelong interest …
  • High school science assignment extension question topic of hereditary such as who in the family can role their tongue, eye colour, attach or detached earlobes etc.
  • My daughter doing a school project on an ancestor
  • My son needed to do a family tree for school and I realised we didn’t know very much about our family history so started researching
  • Primary school teacher introduced us to history in the field which started a lifelong association with local history and a piece of paper from my grandmother that said my great grandmother was married three times started the family history around the same time.
  • School project and my Nana said “would you like to know more?”
  • Son’s school project as to his name

A DNA test

  • DNA test on Ancestry
  • No DNA match to a parent

Other responses not covered by the listed options

  • 21 years ago I had a bad reflux baby so held him upright nearly 24hrs a day. My cousin had given me family tree pages and I got them out as nothing on TV at 2am!
  • A family reunion [several similar responses]
  • A friend took me as a guest to the GSV.
  • A gift subscription to FindMyPast from a friend
  • Asking a question about my recently dead dad that no-one could answer.
  • Child born with congenital birth problem, wanted to know where it came from as it was hereditary.
  • Curiosity
  • Dad didnt talk much about his Dutch past, and I was curious
  • Discovering our late father was illegitimate
  • Discovering that my parents had no interest in the family’s history
  • Family photographs
  • Finding out we were Chinese
  • Grew up next door to grandparents & spent much time with old family members.
  • I was 80 years old and knew nothing about my ancestors beyond my grandparents. Now at 87 I know it all! What “the olds” kept secret and thought was shameful, is sometimes commendable and generally hilarious!
  • I asked my father what his dad was like and he just said that he was a big man. That wasn’t enough of an answer for me …
  • I have a sister in-law who is a Mormon and I got interested helping her.
  • I just seem to have been born with an interest in family history …
  • I read a book about an early Australian settler and wondered about how and when my own family came here.
  • I read an article in Readers Digest
  • I was adopted & my first child died & pathologists could not explain why. This started my journey to locate my biological family to determine if there was any underlying family medical issues which may have been inherited down my family bloodline.
  • Knowing that a Colegrove relative wrote a dictionary, I entered Colegrove dictionary on line and came up with a book entitled The History and Genealogy of the Colegrove Family in America by William Colegrove D.D., LL.D self published in 1891. He had already done research into my family history back to the 1600s.
  • Looked for some new hobby that would last a lifetime, fit in with my blogging and have a great social aspect. Ticked all three.
  • Moved house and Mum gave me my very little filled out baby book. I tried to fill it out but needed help very quickly
  • My Dad and brother were left in a Synagogue orphanage for some years. I wanted to find out more.
  • My father received an invitation to a family re-union from the Archbishop of Sydney in the 1980s. He didn’t go because he wasn’t sure it was real, so I started to investigate the family to see – it was real!
  • My father told me a secret (when I was 23), that he was adopted
  • My mother received a copy of a poem written in 1800 detailed what happened to the family between 1640 (Civil War time) and 1800. It was so amazing, I just had to prove whether it could have happened.
  • My mother’s middle name intrigued me as she didn’t know where it came from. It turned out to be her great grandmother’s surname.
  • My parents made me Scottish, Irish, English, plus some other bits – Norwegian, Eastern Europe Jewish; so just had to check all this out. Been at for around 45 years.
  • Searching for my father. A sense of identity
  • Speaker from local genealogy group
  • Started in 1988 – the bicentennial year when there was lots of historical events at the time
  • The lack of interest, particularly from father in discussing his family origins
  • The original Roots television series & the book by Alex Haley
  • The refusal of my Grand mother to allow or speak of her father.
  • To find out who my grandfather was
  • Wanted to verify family tales.

A full list of responses can be downloaded here.