Using popular genealogy websites like Ancestry.com, some of his students traced their families back centuries and found new stories.

“I think my dad and mom had more fun than me,” said Maddie Thompson, a freshman.

Thompson said her father had originally thought his family came from Germany, which turned out not to be the case.

“None of them were from Germany at all,” said Thompson. “They’re just straight Russian.”

Submitted Photo Maddie Thompson, a freshman at Bottineau High School, holds a picture of her great-great grandparents Leonard Thompson and Emma Levchenko along with Leonard Thompson’s WW2 Draft card.

On her mom’s side, she found ancestors called Arbhibald who were originally from Canada.

Carlson had his students do one family tree for their mother’s side of the family and one from their father’s side of the family. They also were required to do a timeline for the life of one ancestor and write a report on the life of one ancestor.

Thompson decided to write about the life of her great-grandmother on her mother’s side of the family.

Adam Handeland also discovered some interesting facts about his family.

“On my mother’s side … it went all the way back to the 1600s,” said Handeland. “I found one of my way great-grandpas in France.”

Both Thompson and Handeland said they have enjoyed their research.

Carlson said he would like to continue teaching the class next year. While the issue didn’t arise with this class, Carlson said he is aware that some students might not be able to trace their family trees because of different family circumstances. He said he would offer alternative assignments, such as having students do a report on someone from history they admire.

Ancestry.com offers a grant for schools that are interested in offering similar classes.

“All they have to do is go to ancestryclassroom.com and fill out a short application,” said Carlson in an email. “We heard back in about a week and then they ask for the IP address so it can be used on any device in the school as long as it on that school network. With ancestry we also got access to fold3.com which was filled with US Military records and newspapers.com which covers more than a centuries worth of newspapers. If schools or individuals are looking for other alternatives, there was a site I came across called familysearch.org which lets you set up a free account and is somewhat similar to ancestry.”

Carlson said school librarian Alysa Palmer helped him fill out the application for the grant and was a big help when students were conducting their research.

Dakota College at Bottineau’s library recently assisted the class as well.

The college library offers Ancestry Library Edition for library patrons who are doing their own genealogy research. According to a press release, Ancestry Library Edition lets people seek out records in census data, vital records, directories and photos. There are records for people from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and others. Ancestry Library Edition differs from the Home Edition in that patrons use a common database but are restricted from creating a profile and storing information on the site. However, documents can be printed or emailed to the patron so they can save and store their information.