Twelve great reasons to start your family tree

Family history enthusiasts provide their top reasons for getting involved with the hobby, and getting started on finding your ancestors.

Earlier this year, Family Tree magazine commissioned a survey to find out your thoughts on the family history scene, the current state of genealogy, and the future of family history.

As part of the survey, we asked readers what they enjoyed most about tracing their ancestors. Here's a selection of the best comments:

1. Just being nosey, and I like the detective work

2. Proving family stories, giving myself a sense of belonging. Also it is something I work on with one of my grown up sons which is lovely and my husband likes the physical aspect of research e.g. visiting churchyards and looking at inscriptions

3. The discoveries of ancestors' lives and the intellectual challenge of the research

4. It's my job but I love helping people find out that their normal family is anything but and all achieve the extraordinary in some way

5. There is always something new to discover and the possibility that mysteries will be solved

6. I love the research and the satisfaction of finding out so much about ancestors and the way they lived - I even love trying to break brick walls

7. It's like a mixture of a good detective novel, a cryptic crossword and a jigsaw!’

8. I have been researching my families for over 30 years and there is still something to find

9. The sense of achievement when a problem is solved, particularly if that is helping someone else solve a family history problem

10. Visiting the places where my ancestors lived and the sharing community within genealogy’

11. Breaking down brick walls to find my ancestors,also it is very addictive - the more you know,the more you want to know

12. Fascination of discovering where you come from, who your ancestors were, where they lived, what they did for a living and what happened to them. Plus the chance to discover living relatives