Christy Walton | Making History Personal and Family History Real

Stories in Our Roots 00:03
Welcome to the Stories in Our Roots podcast. I'm your host Heather Murphy. In this podcast, we dive deep into how knowing the stories of our ancestors can make a difference in our lives today. Discovering our family history is more than a hobby. It is a way to connect deeply with ourselves, those we love and around us.

Heather Murphy 00:25
Hello, this is Heather Murphy and welcome to another episode of Stories in Our Roots. Today I talk with Christy Walton. As a former high school and middle school history teacher. We talk about how family history enables us to see general history in more personal terms to really help us make history relatable. She explains how she makes her family history personal to her through food or art, pictures, different ways that make her ancestors lives come to life for her today. Here's the interview with Christy Walton. Hi, Christy. Thanks for joining me today and sharing part of your story of why family history is meaningful to you. Could you start by sharing a little bit about yourself?

Christy Walton 01:15
Yes. So I am Christy Walton. I grew up in Southern California in Orange County area. And I went to school in Utah. And now we live in Texas, in Dallas area. And with my husband and my two kids. And I am a former middle and high school history teacher, and now doing genealogy from home.

Heather Murphy 01:45
Great. Thanks for sharing that. How did you start becoming interested in family history?

Christy Walton 01:52
People ask me this a lot. And there's a lot of different reasons. One of the major reasons was my grandmother, who I never met, she died the year I was born. She came from Norway, like she was a Norwegian immigrant with her family. And I didn't know her. So I was kind of intrigued by that, because I didn't know her. And I was told that she lived in like the Arctic, like she came from a fjord in the Arctic. And I thought, wow, that's crazy. And I wanted to learn more about that. And they'd immigrated to with a family to Chicago, or father, my great grandfather built their house in Chicago, he belts her when she got married their house then and then they moved to San Clemente California, at about built a beach house in San Clemente. And it was just kind of intrigued by that. And I wanted to learn more. And then it kind of spurred from there just curious about my grandfather's who served in World War Two, and so on and so on.

Heather Murphy 02:53
So how old were you when you started researching and learning this information?

Christy Walton 02:58
I was probably about 15 or 16 years old in high school. And I noticed that so my mom passed away when I was 14. And then when that happened, I was really interested in her side of the family. And then I started realizing way later in life, I felt like distant from them. I felt distant from my deceased family. And I felt like if I can do genealogy, then I felt close to them again. And so I feel like it was almost a way for me to reconnect with people that were close to me, even though I never met my grandmother. I think I was missing that the fact that I didn't get to meet her. So I felt like through genealogy, I was able to learn more about them feel close to them, like not only close to them with information, but I really physically felt closer to them when I would research them.

Heather Murphy 03:52
Okay, why did you switch from teaching high school and middle school history to genealogy?

Christy Walton 04:02
I had children. But no, honestly, genealogy has been my love My whole life. And when I before I was married in, I guess I didn't realize I could make genealogy a career. And it was more of a hobby to me. And so I was a teacher. I love history in general. History is my favorite. And I love teaching people about history. So when I was teaching in the middle school in high school, I just loved it. I had so much fun teaching the teenagers about history, but I always wanted to make it about them. Like I wanted them to somehow connect to it. When I had kids, I stayed home to take care of them. But my I was able to have a little bit more time to work on genealogy than I realized I love teaching other people about their genealogy and it kind of spun into that.

Heather Murphy 04:57
Okay, so what is one Have the stories from your family that has been meaningful to you as you've been researching them?

Christy Walton 05:05
Oh, my goodness, there's been a lot. But I would say one of the coolest things that has happened in the last 10 years of my genealogy has actually been connecting with distant living cousins. So through DNA kits, you can find people that match your DNA through ancestry.com, or 23andme, or my heritage, you'll see people that you relate to, and honestly, I just started messaging people and saying, Hey, we relate somewhat closely, let's figure out how and then most of the time they'd respond. And we'd figure out who, you know, we relate to. And it's been so fun, because I was able to get so many more stories about my family. So for example, there was a lady in New York that I connected to, and I said, Hey, you know, how do we relate, we figured out that my great grandfather was her grandfather's sibling. And she would say, Oh, yes, we know about Mac. And we know all of this. And here's some pictures, and she would send me all this stuff. And I would tell her stuff about her grandmother that I had heard about. And so I was able to get more stories that way, and then, but neither of us knew where their parents were buried. And so I had a hunch that they were buried in New York. So she took a drive out there, we will find them. But she put me on FaceTime. And then another guy in Australia, that I connected with same thing reached out to him figured out how we related. And then we were able to share stories. And he is from my Norway side. And then he went to Norway, met up with other people. And so I feel like by meeting upper messaging, distant cousins, it's been really fun to find out more about my family, things that my family don't even know about, or things that you can't even find online, like documents can't tell you these stories that these people have. And so I kind of feel like I have family all around the world that like send me Christmas cards now.

Heather Murphy 07:17
That's great. And I think sometimes it's, we think we have all that we need, and we don't really make the effort to reach out to those distant cousins. But a lot of times like you say, there's treasure to be found, you never know what somebody else might know that you had no idea,

Christy Walton 07:36
Right. And some people don't know anything. And when I reach out to them, I'll say, Well, I know a little bit about your grandmother, or grandfather or whatever. And I'll tell them or send them a picture that I had. And then I've had people just say they were crying because they didn't know any of this. So I didn't get any information from them. But they got a whole lot from me, which was just as rewarding.

Heather Murphy 08:00
One of the things that you said in our correspondence before this interview, was why watch movies for inspiration when they are in your own family history. What stories in your family do you look to for inspiration?

Christy Walton 08:15
Oh my goodness, so many. I have a lot of like most people, there's a lot of stories of people that came from other countries immigration into the United States, for many reasons. For example, my grandfather's side, who I didn't know much about, they were Jewish, not religiously, ethnically, which I did not know about because when I got my DNA results back, it said I was like a quarter Jewish and I said, What? After researching them, I found out that they lived in Romania, in this city called yasi. And they fled during the time where Jewish people were being this was before the Holocaust. Jewish people were being refused education. They were being killed. There were stories of Jewish people found dead in ditches, their businesses were being ruined. And so stories like that they fled from there, and they came to America and they went to New York. stories like that are. It's just amazing. Because you see movies like this, right? You see these inspirational movies of people that fled some terrible situation, and made the best of it, and which is great. But like there are those stories in your own family, which is even like a stronger connection to because I feel the problem is when you see these movies, you think like it's the same thing with my kids in high school. I'll tell them these amazing stories in history. And they in their mind, they think like, Well, those are just a long time ago. I don't know these people. I can't relate to these people. That's like they don't see that as a possibility like that. They don't see it as real life. But when you connect it to your own family, and this is your own DNA, this is People just like you, this is like, your great grandfather or whatever, it becomes so much realistic as motivation, way more than I feel like a TV show for movie. And, and and don't get me wrong. There's definitely stories of not so good things. And a lot of people say, Well, I'm afraid to research because I'm going to find lots of terrible things about my family. But I think it depends on how you look at it. If you look at it, as I'm embarrassed of my family, then yeah, you're not gonna get anything out of it. But if you think of it as Wow, my family made bad choices. But look at me now. I am doing great things. I've overcome a history of bad choices, or a history of crime, or whatever it is. And look at me now I am the one changing the story of my family. And that's inspirational in itself.

Stories in Our Roots 10:53
This podcast is brought to you by my signature service and one on one program Resilience in Your Roots. Do you find yourself overwhelmed with stressors and responsibilities of life, increasing your resilience, that ability to get back up when life knocks you down, helps you live your best life, Resilience in Your Roots will help you in four areas to increase your resilience, self awareness and self care, purpose and goals, connections and relationships, perspective and optimism all as you learn how to research your family tree and absorb the lessons that are contained in the stories and your family. If this sounds like the perfect program for you jump on a call with me at heathermurphygenealogy.com/nextstepcall.

Heather Murphy 11:39
I really like how you said that. When you learn history, it doesn't seem like real life. And that making it connect to family history than it actually makes it real. I think that that's true, you don't even sometimes you don't think about how you're processing, like learning about history. But I think you're you're right there. One of the other things you said was that family history has increased your sense of identity. How has that been for you.

Christy Walton 12:08
Going back to when I was teaching. So I also worked at a, which I can talk about later. But I also worked at a treatment center for troubled teens. So looking at them, and then looking at kids in middle school and high school, they are starving for identity. Right? They know they're in a family. Some people identify with sports, some people identify with bands, those kids that don't have a group or identity, especially in in more urban places. That's when kids you know, get into involved in gangs and make bad choices, because they just want to feel like they're part of something and feel like they're a part of a group. And so that's why a lot of those urban places, they encourage extracurricular activities and things like that, to make good choices and be part of, you know, healthy groups. And I feel like even as adults, kids, we all feel like we need to know ourselves and have some sort of identity. And I feel like it's in our blood. Like I've talked to people who didn't know anything about their family. And I've researched and I found out for example, their grandmother grew up on a coffee plantation, you know, coffee beans, and she said, Oh, that's so crazy. I've always felt this strong connection to the smell of coffee, like more than anyone should. She's like that so interesting. And I feel like there are things in our blood in our genes that have memory. I know that sounds crazy for some people. But like, if you look at animals, they have instincts, even without teaching them they have instincts, and I feel like it's like trained within their blood. And there's, I've posted about this before, there's lots of studies on it. And I feel like when you look at your family history, and your identity, what countries you come from, you're going to find things that you relate to, you're going to find food, or music or smells or different things that are in your genes in your body in it. And you feel like you're a part of something, something that's special and unique. And I think most people want to feel that way. And I do feel like there's a lot of connections there. And it's fun. Honestly, it's so fun. If you're from Italy, look up the flowers that are in the natural habitat of the city you come from, you know, and plant them in your garden. Add that heritage and that identity to your home because I feel like it's fulfilling.

Heather Murphy 14:44
What is a way or two that you have done that for yourself?

Christy Walton 14:49
That is a good question. One thing that I've been wanting to do is it's hard during COVID but so like just a couple months ago, I found a Local Polish like hole in the wall restaurant, and that are owned by, you know, people that are polish and, and I just wanted to go and I brought my little girl with me and I just wanted to go and eat some Portuguese. Because to be honest, I haven't really had authentic progress before. And I'm polish and I just wanted to experience that and it gets me excited, you know. And it's it's a fun adventure that I come from Orange County. And so like on my door, I've put a wreath that has like, little fake like Clementine oranges on them. And I share stories with my daughters are little so they don't really understand. But I'll tell them like when they watch frozen and they, you know, you see the fjord, you know, and I'm like you are Norwegian, your family comes from a yard and they're like, I don't know. But I think knowing more about your family history, makes life more fun.

Stories in Our Roots 15:55
Well, and then going back to what you said about making history real when you pull in these different experiences that use other senses, that makes it more real because you're you're using more of yourself to experience and to connect with your family history.

Christy Walton 16:16
Yeah, exactly. Well, I think about, okay, my ancestors, what were things that they ate, what were things that they, like you said all the senses. And I just think people sometimes I feel like are too concerned about their family like their what their home looks like having to keep up with trends. So for example, right now, that's something that's really, quote in is the are those like landscape paintings of like, you know, just to landscape trees and a meadow or something, right? Which is beautiful, and I love it. But like, why not get something a little bit more special to you making things more meaningful? Sometimes they go to people's houses and say, like, Wow, what's the story about the painting? And I'm like, I don't know, which is fine. And it's beautiful. But I feel like if you can take that extra effort, find a local painter, and like, find a picture of where your family comes from. I've been wanting to do this actually, I haven't done it yet. I found some pictures of the fjord my family comes from, and I have this friend of mine who's a painter, and I asked her, I was like, if I gave you these pictures, could you paint this for me? She's like, Yes, absolutely. It's a landscape portrait, which is, you know, in and cool right now. But it's has meaning, right? It's an actual picture. That's beautiful. And you're supporting local businesses.

Heather Murphy 17:34
Another thing that you mentioned in your email was this idea that a lot of times we get in ourselves of Why me? Why is this happening to me? And how you look at your family history to help get you through those feelings? Can you talk about that?

Christy Walton 17:50
I can. I do feel like there is this overwhelming feeling? There's a lot of anxiety in people, right? And I, the older I get, the more I realize other like there's people that have real anxiety issues, and they get stressed and they freak out about like, Oh, my gosh, how did this happen? Why is it always me? Why am I the one that goes through these troubles? And why am I the one that always has this issue, and they kind of feel like they're alone in this? For example, my husband, whenever we need to replace something in our house, or something needs to be fixed, he'll say, why our house was our house, no one that always needs. I was like, This is normal. Everyone's house needs to be fixed. I think that's dangerous, this feeling of like, Why me? Why is it always me. But if you look at your family history, oh, my goodness, the things that our ancestors had to go through and overcome, are ridiculous, especially, for example, child mortality. If you look at censuses, certain years will tell you how many kids were born, and how many kids are still living. I cannot tell you it is hard, especially before 1910 1900. The odds of someone having all their kids living was very rare. I have like a great grandmother or great grandmother, who I think had 12 children. And it said there was maybe six or seven living that is a lot of children to have lost. I feel like when you look back in your history, you kind of come out of your head, and you realize, Oh, it's not just me, like everyone has very serious issues. Maybe I don't have it as bad as I think. I know. You're not really supposed to compare yourself to others. But I think it gives you a good perspective. And it also also you develop empathy. I think it's just the realization that life is hard. But we have people around us to help us you know, and that's how they got through it is they really had to rely on family and neighbors. Well to close up here.

Heather Murphy 19:58
If you could go back. I know you started pretty young. But if you could go back and tell yourself some piece of advice before you started researching your family history, well, what would you tell yourself?

Christy Walton 20:09
I think I would tell myself, don't be afraid to make mistakes. A lot of people I work with say, they don't want to do family history because they're afraid, they're going to make a mistake, or they're going to do something wrong. But you can't get better at what you're doing unless you make some mistakes, and you learn from them. And it's not like you're writing down in the book of life that can never be fixed. You can always go back and fix your mistakes. Don't let that worry you. Just get into it. And the more you do it, the better you get, the more skills and strategies you have. Yeah.

Heather Murphy 20:49
Great. Well, thank you so much for sharing some of your personal stories and why family history is meaningful to you.

Christy Walton 20:56
Thank you.

Stories in Our Roots 20:58
Thank you for joining me today for Stories in Our Roots. Please help this podcast grow by subscribing, leaving a review and sharing it with your friends, if you have feedback, or would like to recommend someone to share their story head to storiesinourroots.com and fill out the form. Thanks again for listening, and I look forward to being with you again next week.