Sam Chapman has eluded me for years. The image of a man with his legs crossed, who has always seemed like an American Indian to me, is part of my past but also an inspiration for my future. In my search for him, I am discovering more and more about myself. A lot of what I thought I was is not who I am.

My parents divorced when I was a little girl, so I didn’t meet the man whose name I bore until I was twenty. With a last name like ‘Goad’, my mother always told me that my father was of German descent. A guttural sounding name like ‘Goad’ fits the bill. I was part German.

My mother spoke of her great-grandmother as being of American Indian descent. Cherokee. So the calculation came to be 1/16 Cherokee. My grandfather’s family was clearly Irish, with a surname like ‘Mullikin’, what else could you expect?

But who was Sam Chapman? Many questions. However, I have to admit that my questions came too late in the game to get answers. Older family members passed away with unanswered questions. Missed opportunities. I wasn’t raised close to my extended family anyway, so my research will likely help me understand that dynamic as well… Was my family line the black sheep of the family or a white sheep struggling to avoid going gray?

Clicking through the pages of Ancestry.com, looking for Sam, my eyes widened. I am NOT German, I am NOT American Indian, I am NOT Irish. I AM English, I AM maybe a drop of American Indian, I AM Scottish. All the family roots I thought were mine have been ripped out of the ground, but not yet Sam.

If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. Are you a descendant of English aristocracy or Irish potato farmers? Should you wear lederhosen or is that love you have for plaid influenced by your Scottish genes? Do you have a ‘Sam’, that old image that you can’t get out of your head but want to identify once and for all?

Genealogy, “a line of descent traced continuously from one ancestor,” can help you identify who you really are. Even if you don’t find his Sam, you might find out that he is related to Lizzie Borden or some other famous person and be momentarily satisfied until Sam calls his mind back. Genealogy, the study of you and your place in the world. Start yours today!