`` This is the house ? '' my mom asks , turning around . `` Yes , '' says our guide . `` This is where your grandmother was born . '' My mother and I have traveled more than 6,000 miles to explore Candia Canavese , a tiny village outside Torino , Italy , founded in the fifth century . We 're here to learn more about our heritage and get a sense of where her family is from . We 're not the first ones to visit for that reason . Even though Candia Canavese has a population of just 1,200 , our guide says plenty of other travelers have come searching for records , data , photos and that intangible sense of history you ca n't get without visiting a place yourself . Interest in genealogy appears to be at an all-time high , with a recent Harris Interactive Survey indicating that four in five Americans wish to learn more about their family history . Shows like CNN 's upcoming `` Roots : Our journeys home , '' along with series `` Who do You Think You Are ? '' and `` Finding Your Roots '' are gaining in popularity . `` People see these programs and they want that experience for themselves , '' says Michelle Ercanbrack , family historian at Ancestry.com . As a result , she says , more travelers are looking to incorporate family history research into a trip or even plan a standalone journey for the sole purpose of discovering their roots . Want to embark on your own family tree trip ? Here are some tips and techniques to help smooth the process . Get your history organized before you leave . If you 're spending the time and money to get to a far-flung destination , you do n't want to spend your visit stuck in a library or office . It 's more rewarding to get your history organized before you leave . `` Start with what you know and build your tree online , '' says Ercanbrack . Sites like Ancestry.com , Familysearch.org and Genealogy.com can get you on the right track , while genealogy research site Cyndislist.com has a comprehensive collection of useful links . For example , Ancestry.com has 14 billion searchable , indexed records -- everything from passenger records to census data and more . `` Remember , online records can build the branches , but there will be holes -- things you ca n't find because of records loss or privacy details , '' Ercanbrack adds . Beyond just building out a family tree skeleton online , it 's also wise to create a historical timeline before your trip . A snapshot of the family 's movements will help you see holes easier . For example , start with one family member -- say a grandparent -- and create a timeline of where and when they were born , where they lived , went to school , were married , and so forth . Writing things down in a narrative fashion can help you pinpoint gaps , like when a child might have been born or a family member emigrated . Let them know you 're coming . Regardless if where in the world family history travel takes you , it helps to get in touch with a few locals before you arrive . People worth contacting include librarians , city clerks , museum officers and clergy . Giving information in advance helps a researcher flag potential documents and can maximize time on the ground while visiting . Prior to our Italy trip , my mother and I got in touch with the innkeeper at the one hotel in the village to inquire about an Italian-speaking guide to help us . Our host went above and beyond -- as it turns out his family had lived in the village for generations and knew all the people we needed to speak to . Because we sent information requests with family names and dates in advance , by the time we arrived he had already laid the groundwork and we had appointments with the priest and the city clerk 's office . That allowed us to spend a good chunk of our time wandering the streets , taking in the ambiance and imagining how my great-grandmother 's family lived . On-site research : Tombstones and immigration offices . Sure , you may have to spend time browsing through old boxes and files searching for documents , but there are countless of other places to find data while visiting a location . `` Visiting the place is where you do the finishing touches , '' says Ercanbrack . Cemeteries : Local cemeteries often provide location-based details you wo n't find in other files such as place of death . They can also turn up details on previously unknown family members or even children that died as infants and were never recorded . Ercanbrack offers a great tip for getting details off a worn headstone : Shine a flashlight directly above the headstone to cast a shadow on engravings -- you can then take a picture of the shadow . It 's far more effective than using the paper-rubbing-with-charcoal technique you see so often in the movies -- that can actually permanently damage the headstone . Immigration offices : Passport applications and naturalization records can be information goldmines , as they often include detailed information on family records , places of residence and work . Military/VA Offices : Military pension records also are crammed with data including dates and location of service , awards and recognition and time spent overseas . Note that these might be harder to access and there are privacy issues concerning release of some statistics , but worth investigating . By the end of our journey we discovered new details previously blank on the family tree . More importantly , we felt connected to a place that was previously just a spot on the map . As Alex Haley , author of `` Roots , '' so eloquently put it : `` In all of us there is a hunger , marrow-deep , to know our heritage -- to know who we are and where we have come from . Without this enriching knowledge , there is a hollow yearning . ''
Interest in genealogy is rising , with many choosing to combine travel with family history research . Websites like Ancestry.com offer access to billions of indexed records . Comment: