To answer your question of motivation/appeal to know more about your grandparents' parents (and beyond), here is one data point - I grew up hearing that my moth

To answer your question of motivation/appeal to know more about your grandparents' parents (and beyond), here is one data point - I grew up hearing that my mother was related to the Alsatian polymath Albert Schweitzer (1) and I've wanted to see exactly how we are related. Also I've heard family stories that on my father's side, his grandfather's surname was changed upon entry at the massive Ellis Island immigration facility (2) and I wanted to know more about our previous family name and history back in Sweden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island