How would you feel if you were related to retired Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf, commander of Desert Storm? Or if one of your ancestors shot himself in the head?

Angie Schwartzkopf, 19, of Portland, Ind., found both individuals on her family tree.

Y-Press went to Portland to talk to four youths who researched their families. The others were Jennifer Hunt, 12, Portland; Blake Watson, 20, Redkey; and Zachary Wolford, 16, Dunkirk.

All took part in a 4-H project compiling a genealogical notebook tracing up to eight generations of their families. Among other requirements, they learned to use county and state historical files to find information and how to contact government agencies to obtain documents such as marriage and death certificates.

"Genealogy is exploring your family, basically, just looking back into the family tree and seeing who you are," Blake said.

Getting started

Zach: Last year, when we were looking for something to do in 4-H, I decided to do it because I wanted to learn more about my family history.

Jen: I wanted to be in 4-H and I didn't know what to do. And I don't really know a lot of things about my family, so I just decided to do genealogy.

Blake: I started genealogy when I was in the fifth grade. My teacher told us to do a family tree, and I went home and just talked to my parents. . . . My dad, he didn't really know much about his family, but my mom did. So I kind of gravitated towards her family more since there was more documentation. And Dad's family still needed a lot of research.

Angie: I didn't really start genealogy until about my freshman year of high school, but my mom had done a lot of it, you know, dragging us to cemeteries and whatnot, lots of fun. And so it really wasn't that hard for me to start because all I really had to do was go to mom's filing cabinet.

Doing research

Zach: My mom helped me out. We got on the computer and we found leads to link our family all the way back to England.

Jen: My mom helped me. She drove me around to all the cities that (family members) were born in, getting all the records and stuff, and my grandma helped me with, like, my grandpa because my grandpa died.

Blake: I have a lot of guides that I follow, a lot of resources as far as how to follow proper steps in researching. Just like writing a letter to . . . a library or any genealogical institution, you want to do things the proper way.

Angie: The Internet's a very valid resource. The key is: (once) you get the names and the dates and the places, then the next thing you need to do to prove that what you got off the Internet is valid (by locating) the national records, the death certificates and the birth certificates.

Roadblocks

Zach: There's so many Wolfords and so many different last names that are related, it's hard to decide which ones are related unless you actually talk to the people.

Jen: Well, my grandpa died, and so I didn't really have a lot of facts about him, just about my grandmother. We had a few pictures of him, like when he was a baby, but we didn't know facts. There was a lot of Howes.

Blake: Roadblocks include misguided information, such as not up-to-date, or certain people who don't thoroughly go through their sources and just want to be related to a certain person. So they pretty much make up information, and you have to really watch that, especially on the Internet. And books also. If it says it in print, of course that doesn't mean it's right. And however old the book is, you've got to take that into consideration because maybe new research has been done.

Findings

Zach: My one grandpa, he served in the war. He was standing out, ready to fight for our country. That's one of the greatest achievements. We went all the way back to England, like 1800s.

Angie: I found quite a few suicides, surprisingly, in my family, and that's always interesting. I'm related to General Schwartzkopf (and), let's see, kings and queens of England, a couple of kings of France, a couple of dukes of France, a couple of duchesses of France. I'm also related to Ulysses S. Grant.

Some of them I've (traced) really far back, like past the 1500s and 1400s. I'm having a little trouble proving those, however.

Jen: Well, on my dad's side, my grandpa and grandma divorced, and that was kind of a surprise because now my step-grandma, all her sons and daughters divorced.

Blake: I've got family from the 500s, I mean like to Charlemagne. . . . And I've got family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I just found out, and they're really interesting people. Like one of the guys, one of my great-great-great grandfathers, was in the Lewis and Clark expedition.

A meaningful hobby

Blake: I feel like I belong. It's just like a tree, a family tree. You're just a leaf on the tree of many people. It's just neat to see where you fit in.

Jen: I (learned) that my grandma is a lot like my mom, but I think she's more like me than my mom is.

Angie: I just think that people need to realize (A) how time consuming it is, but (B) also how much you really have to want to sit down and do the work in order to get the end result.

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Lisa O'Connor, 15; Shannon Neumeyer, 15.

REPORTERS: Katie Bolinger, 12; Perri McKinley, 12.