52 Ancestors -Weeks 35 and 36 - Finding Job Patterns In My Family

Continuing with this year’s theme of chronicling my generation, I am combining two weeks of Amy Johnson Crow’s blog challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week #35 was "Back to School" and Week #36 was "Work."

The combination is obvious, considering my work IS school (teaching school, that is!) Recently, in my Careers class, I was discussing Family Job Trees. The purpose of the activity is to identify job patterns in one’s family. This can be helpful when trying to determine a possible career path as we are often influenced by family.

Here is my family job tree:

As you can see, there were several educators in my family tree. I decided to explore my siblings and their career paths to see if the pattern extended further into my generation. I was not surprised to find that it did.

All FIVE of my biological siblings are teachers (One used to teach guitar so I’m counting that!) or trainers!!  So – 100% of my bio-sibs are educators! If you include the children of my father that adds one voice teacher and one expert in social media who educates others through her journalism. So that makes 7 out 9 or 78%.  

Here’s a genogram of my immediate family. (A genogram is a pictorial display of a person's family relationships.) The RED indicates a teacher/trainer. The BLUE indicates someone who is not.

*Technically, this sibling is NOT teacher at the moment, but since he taught guitar in the past, I'm counting him!! 

None of my stepdad’s kids are educators but one of their children is a Kindergarten teacher.  What does the job pattern look like for my children and the children of my siblings? Out of the nine old enough to be employed, four are teachers of some type. (I’m including the one currently taking a break from early childhood education!) I’d say there is most definitely a pattern in this family. There are seven children who have yet to choose their career path. I wonder if they will choose the same path as many other family members?

I could have made a genogram for that generation as well but it can be pretty time-consuming! I think the point is illustrated well enough to demonstrate there is a pattern in our family. I plan to examine the career choices of my ancestors in the future to determine how far back this pattern may go.

What patterns exist in YOUR family? Take the time to go beyond the vital records. Learning about the choices made by your ancestors may give you some insight into the choices you make!