Professional Genealogist And Former Homeschooler, Michael Strauss, Once Hated The Idea Of Researching His Family Tree. But After A Middle School Homework Assignment, He Built A Hobby That Later Turned Into His Career.


I was a teenager in the 1970s. My middle school teacher, Mr. Orsini, gave us an assignment on genealogy research. Being a typical twelve year old, I had no desire to start this project. I thought, “This will be boring” and “I have no interest in learning about my long dead family”.

My parents only added to my frustration. They said, “Talk to your grandparents.” They were older and would be able to answer the questions that Mr. Orsini had given us.

At the time, all my grandparents were still alive including one great-grandparent. So I made a list of questions and went to interview them. Once I got started, and learned the personal stories of their lives, I became more interested. Something sparked inside of me. I found the more I learned, the more connected I felt to my family. I surprisingly had more in common with them than I ever dreamed possible.

My excitement grew even more when my grandparents shared photographs and other family memorabilia. I never knew these items existed. And I recognized myself in some of the faces. During a visit to my great-grandmother, she told me that her grandfather was a veteran of the Civil War. She showed me an image of him in uniform. I now have that cherished family treasure.

In a short time I found myself wanting to learn more. After school, I would visit the local courthouse. On Sunday afternoons, I went to the local genealogy library and Historical Society. In 1977, I joined the society at a cost of $2.00 a year. I have remained an active member ever since, although the price went up over the nearly 50 years since.

I learned that our ancestors each has a story to tell. They led ordinary lives, sometimes in complex times in history. Putting our ancestors into the pages of history was a big part of my genealogy journey.

My genealogy education taught me to research by looking backward in time, recording each generation through ancestral research. I never considered any other method. But once I started to look at the siblings of my grandparents and great-grandparents generation and research their children, and grandchildren, I discovered that talking with cousins helped me to learn more than ever before. Professional genealogists call this “descendancy research” and it made all the difference in my personal genealogy journey.

After my first encounter and introduction to genealogy research, I turned my love for family history into a fulltime profession. In 1995, I became an Accredited Genealogist. I took more classes people started paying me for what started out as a hobby. I used my knowledge to help officials find next of kin for people who died without a will. People also hired me to find lost loved ones and fill in the blanks on their family tree.

Today I am a Senior Genealogist and military expert at Ancestry.com. I am lucky to have a profession that I love. And it all started with a little bit of curiosity.

Need to find someone in your family tree? Catch Mike at Genealogy Research Network

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