DIGGING FOR ANCESTRAL ROOTS

A nation of immigrants, most Americans can trace their ancestry to other lands. The routes our fore-bearers followed to get here and the circumstances they encountered along the way are as varied as the places from which they came. Many of their stories are the stuff of legends. Three decades ago, Alex Haley's moving novel "Roots" and the subsequent TV series sparked a surge in Black Americans traveling to re-establish connections with their African past. More recently, Angela's Ashes had a similar influence on Americans of Irish descent.

Indeed, the last decade has seen a boom in genealogical interest. Spending on so- called "heritage travel" is up 18 percent since 1995, with thousands of travelers making personal pilgrimages to those places from which their ancestors arrived. Some make contact with distant relatives, others simply come away with a different perspective and understanding of who and why they are.

The Internet's also been a big help to amateur genealogists. Several years ago, the Mormon Church put its family history database on- line. The result of over a century of research in 34 languages, the site lists over 700 million family names. In April, the Ellis Island National Monument unveiled its Family Immigration History Center. On-line users can now research names, places of birth and other data for the more than 22 million new Americans who came through the port of New York between 1892 and 1924. Other sites and genealogical resources make researching easier than ever. While the hunt can be fascinating, learning about our origins can be profoundly life altering.

For free, on-line genealogical research, visit www.familysearch.com (Mormon Church site); www.ellisislandrecords.org. Other web sites that may charge a fee for research are www.genealogy.com and www.onlinegenealogy.com. To find professional help, contact the Association of Professional Genealogists at www.apgen.org. http://search.ancestry.com/oldsearch/obit – Obituary Search