As an only child raised far away from all family I find ancestry hugely interesting. Wanting to be part of a tribe is an inherently human trait. Finding jewish ancestry and that those that didn't leave eastern Europe were wiped out GREATLY changed my motivation to protect all people. Finding out that my quite unassuming grandfather (who made a huge difference in America's 80s farm crisis at the cost of his entire career in the 70s and was blacklisted from employment forever) descended from basically every European nobile and was more royal than my ex's side (who are very proud of their silver set handed down from their nobility) was so, so gratifying.
You should try talking to people with interesting ancestors (or views of their ancestors).
I won't go into too much detail here to avoid doxing myself, but I've had a few decent discussions about some of my and my friends' ancestors/likely ancestors as historical figures.
Depending on who you're (un)fortunate enough to be descended from, you might find yourself viewing certain historical events in a different light.
Personally as a child it helped me humanize these historical figures and view them as I would an uncle or grandfather, as opposed to the sometimes one-dimensional treatment notable figures would get from the educational system or culture you learn about them from.
Now as an adult it's perhaps less interesting, but I still know significantly more random trivia about historical figures I'm distantly related to compared to others.
