Nikki uses a genealogical website to research her family and does, in fact, find information about her ancestors. Have you ever done something similar? If so, how did it feel when you uncovered information about your forebears? Did you learn anything surprising?
Yes, both my husband and I did research about our ancestors in addition to going to Sweden to see the old family farm where my mother and uncles had lived and gone to school. It’s extremely moving.
I have not used a website to research my family. I would like to someday. I know right now I have not done it due to laziness.bBut also I must say I am quite busy with all that I do now,
I have done a little bit of research and was excited to find some information I wasn’t aware of. However I find that using the site (ancestry) is too commercialized to maximize their profit. “For this amount of money you get this, but for more money you get this and that”. I didn’t find the site easy to navigate. Also as an African American the documentation of my lineage is challenging. I know some public libraries have services and the African American Museum in Washington DC has a service. I just haven’t really been motivated or patient enough to commit to the time it takes.
My husband and I are very lucky that my mother and his grandmother did lots of research! I don’t think there is much more to be found.
I have not personally done any research on my family ancestry, but I have cousins on each side who have. One published a book which my sister has (but can’t find). The other has provided information and requested information about my father from my sister and me. Due to my sister’s illness this past year, we haven’t provided anything to her, but hope to in the future.
I had no intention of ever submitting my DNA for testing. But then a relative did it, received some surprising and upsetting results, and asked me to do it for the purpose of confirming their results. I reluctantly did so. My results did confirm the new and shocking information which was not about our ancestors, but a family member who is deceased. For privacy, I won’t disclose details, but our family was rocked by what we learned and we cannot get answers to our many questions. So I tell people to only use services like 23 & Me if they are sure they can “handle the truth” they might uncover.
I had just the opposite experience, @Janie-Hickok-Siess! There was absolutely nothing surprising about my background at all. I was hoping for some sort of minor scandal but no such luck. 
Well, you know what they say. “Be careful what you wish for.” 
It really rocked our family, but the details went with the family member into the grave. I do know that the family member would never have let the information be discovered the way it was. But when that person died (in 2013), the ready availability of DNA testing & discovery of these kinds of secrets was not something they could have foreseen.
One of my friends found a bunch of new family members with whom she has developed wonderful relationships.
Another friend discovered she had a brother only to learn that he had recently died. So she never got to meet him. And will always wonder about the circumstances of his birth since he was older than her or her sister. She suspects her mother put him up for adoption and met their father sometime later. Did their father know about him? Another question that will remain unanswered . . .
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