Ms. Hillary Clinton would not have known until Christopher Child of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, a leading ancestor search company, disclosed his group's findings, after three years of research that Ms. Clinton and Angelina Jolie are related on the 9th degree and linked by an ancestor who died in Quebec on the 17th century.

Genealogy websites have taken the front seat on the internet today ? not just as a hobby of doing surname search or creating genealogy charts, but as a meaningful pursuit of meaning (or excuse?) within the family ancestry.

Free genealogy sites make the study of family history easier for everyone today than what it was a decade ago. It includes the discovery of your family's legacy, your ancestors and who made up your immediate family tree. The motive is not superficial as in knowing if Madonna is in your bloodline, or if you could be another distant relative of Barack Obama, but in establishing your connection to your roots. It is something personal; as part of who you are today, is your past.

This is the enchantment people find in the study of genealogy with the aid of various genealogy websites. More and more people have grown interest in uncovering how their forefathers had lived; their accomplishments, as well as their defeats. Most people believe that it is only through understanding where they came from they would acquire the clearer vantage point of where they could be heading to. If the past makes up a percentage of who they are, they believe it is important to understand how far and to what extent their legacy family tree, family roots and history can still influence their decisions today.

While growing up, how many times have you heard comments that you laugh like your Grandpa Joe, or you are as good as your Aunt Jackie in Math? If your clan is a jigsaw puzzle and your ancestors the bits and pieces that make it up, would it not help you to understand how one piece connects to another?

Availing the services of free genealogy websites in conducting your genealogy search and setting up your genealogy chart can help you in ways you could not fully imagine.

And as a piece yourself of that giant puzzle, understanding how you belong and who you connect to will give you the assurance that you are not an accident in the scheme of things, but an important piece; as important as all the other pieces that complete the giant puzzle.

Understanding your family history through a genealogy search will give you insights as to your family's traits, strengths and weaknesses, common choices that shaped them and the mistakes that could have been avoided.

Recent medical findings also revealed a genetic connection among family members that explains their predisposition to certain ailments. This is one reason why the study of your family roots is important.

You would not only possess a journal of dates and facts, but a lamp post that can steer you away from the danger zones where your forefathers once treaded and lost. As Henry Ward Beecher once said, ?What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away.?