The Shantz Family of Freeport, Ontario, Canada

Why Genealogy?

Some might wonder why it is important to make a study of one’s ancestry and work on a family genealogy project. There are in fact many reasons. The lives of our ancestors contributed to who we are today, so we get to know ourselves by better knowing more about those who came before us. As we chronicle the lives of our ancestors, we remember them and honour the role they played, and the sacrifices they endured, in making our own existence a reality. We also learn interesting bits and pieces about their times and ways of life, the values and principles that shaped their personalities and lifestyles, as well as the challenges they needed to overcome in order to survive. These can sometimes awaken us to bigger and wider questions, such as what it takes to achieve a full, happy, and meaningful life. In discovering our past, and in particular our Mennonite past with their tradition of material modesty and close communal ties, we tend to find that our forebears managed to achieve happiness and contentment in the simplest of ways, and without the over-ambition and frivolous trappings of the modern age.

John Francis Schumaker, September 2020