Genealogy

The etymology of the word, taken from the online version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is:-

Middle English genealogie, from Middle French, from Late Latin genealogia, from Greek, from genea race, family + -logia -logy; akin to Greek genos race Date: 14th century: an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor

Records of persons who were neither royalty nor nobility began to be taken by governments in order to keep track of their citizens. (In most of Europe, for example, this started to take place in the 16th century.) As more of the population began to be recorded, there were sufficient records to follow a family using the paper trail they left behind.

As each person lived his or her life, the major events were documented with a license, permit or report which was sent to a local, regional or national office or archive. A genealogist locates copies of these records, wherever they have been stored, and rearranges the information about each person to discover family relationships and recreate a timeline of each person's life once again.

Records that are used in genealogy research include:

• Adoption records
• Baptism or christening records
• Birth records
• Cemetery records and tombstones
• Census records
• City directories and telephone directories
• Death records
• Diaries, personal letters and family Bibles
• Emigration, immigration and naturalization records
• Land and homestead records, deeds
• Marriage and divorce records
• Medical records
• Military records
• Newspaper columns
• Obituaries
• Occupational records
• Oral history
• Passports
• Photographs
• School records
• Ship passenger lists
• Social Security records
• Tax records
• Voter registration records
• Wills and probate records

Even an unsuccessful search for ancestors leads to a better understanding of history. The search for living relatives often leads to family reunions, both of distant cousins and of disrupted families. Genealogists sometimes help reunite families separated by immigration, foster homes and adoption. The genealogist can help keep family traditions alive.

In most cultures, the name of a person includes in one way or another the family to which he or she belongs. This is called the family name, or surname. It is often also called the last name because, for most speakers of English, the family name comes after the given name (or names). However, this is not the case in all cultures.

The Mormons practise baptism for the dead, an ordinance where baptism is performed on living people for and in behalf of those who have died. They believe in this manner they may assist their deceased relatives to progress in the next life, should they accept the ordinance done in their behalf. In the last century, they engaged on a large scale program of copying all available records that would be useful for genealogy, microfilming them and constructing an index, the International Genealogical Index (IGI). The IGI contains all the ancestral records that their followers had compiled. By making so many resources available (for example, copies of their microfilmed parish registers are available worldwide at their Family History Centers at a nominal cost, they have helped contribute to the increasing interest in genealogy over the last couple of decades.

Data sharing between genealogical researchers has grown to be a major use of the Internet. Since most genealogy software programs store information about persons and their relationships in GEDCOM format, they can be shared with other genealogists by e-mail and Internet message boards, added to an online database, or converted into a family web sites using online genealogical tools such as Phpgedview. One phenomenon over the last few years has been that of large genealogy-related databases going on-line, attracting a flash crowd, and having to suspend service within days to make hurried upgrades after collapsing under the unexpected magnitude of traffic load: this happened with the Mormons' genealogy database [1], and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's listing of war graves [1]. In January 2002, the much-anticipated British census for 1901 [1] went online. Within minutes it was inaccessible due to the server and network load, and it had to be taken offline. Later in the year, after upgrades had been made, it came back online.

Genealogy has been claimed by some to be one of the most popular hobbies in America, second only to gardening. The hobby received a big boost in popularity in the late 1970s with the premiere of the television adaptation of Alex Haley's fictionalized account of his family line, .

In fiction, it is common to give a character a complicated fictional genealogy to make his or her background more interesting. A picaresque one is the genealogy for Godwulf of Asgard.

Table of contents

1 Reliability of Sources 2 External links 2.1 General 2.2 UK 2.3 USA 2.4 Miscellaneous

Reliability of Sources

Experience shows that genealogical facts can be unreliable. The top five, in order of decreasing reliability, are:

1. Place Names - Normally the most accurate because it is long lasting, and apart from rare occasions is rarely wrong. Things to look out for include variable spellings by partially literate scribes, small places of the same name in neighbouring counties (e.g. the name of the village of Brocton occurs six times in the border area between the English counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire), old county borders (outlying and detached areas belonging to one country with another county, particularly in C17th-C19th England), and incorrect county on census returns. The place where the ancestor recalls growing up my not be the place of birth or where the records are eventually found. Many families have been historically very mobile. A good set of detailed maps (such as the British Ordnance Survey (OS)) and use the OS Old Map website. Old records may contain references to Middle Age villages that have ceased to exist due to disease or famine. In general, there is a good likelihood that the place (parish) of a birth for a girl is the place she marries (unless 'sent abroad' as a servant), and that the place of residence for a man is where he is buried; certainly a neighbouring parish. Useful references: maps (online), census returns, birth, death & marriage records, Domesday Book.

2. Occupations - Can be partly right. Many unskilled ancestors had a variety of jobs depending on the season and local trade requirements. Occasionally skilled trades pass from father to son. Census returns may contain some embellishment from Labourer to Mason, or from journeyman to Master craftsman. Workmen no longer fit for their primary trade often have less glamorous jobs later in life. Look out for old or unfamiliar local occupations that may cause confusion if poorly legible - an ostler (a keeper of horses) and a hostler (an innkeeper) can be confused. For example, someone who has a perplexing description "ironer of rabbit burrows" turns out an ironer (profession) in the Bristol district named Rabbit Burrows. Several trades have regional preferences, for e.g. shoemaker or cordwainer, and many apparently obscure jobs are part of a larger trade community such as watchmaking, framework knitting or gunmaking. References: trade directories, census returns, birth, death & marriage records.

3. Surnames - At least correct if viewed phonetically! Some surnames can be spelled a multitude of way by partially illiterate ancestors or scribes. The further you go back, the more bizarre the variations you encounter. Some names become interchangeable between married and maiden names, and previous husbands names. Some family names are not always obvious (examples include MORDECAI interchangeable with MORT). Confusion can result from using step-parents or adopted parents names, as well as a woman using her lover's name. Common-law marriages were still common in Victorian times in England, even though this type of legally recognised informal marriage was abolished in 1753, so records of a marriage simply may not exist. References: trade directories, census returns, birth, death & marriage records.

4. First Names - One of the most confusing aspects of research for a wide range of reasons. Nicknames are very common - Beth, Lizzie or Betty is common for Elizabeth, which can be confused with Eliza. Patty has been used as a diminutive form for Martha. There is Amy used for Alice, Nancy/Ann, and Polly for a number of girls names including Mary Ann and Elizabeth. While the girls names are the most confusing, boys names can also interchange: Jack, John & Jonathan, Joseph & Josiah, Edward & Edwin, etc. The use of middle names is more common than you may think - very often names appear back to front on a wide range of documents. The same name can also be given to several children, often the result of an earlier child dying young, however this is not always the case! You may conclude that there is both a John senior and John junior alive at the same time. It is also common to confuse relatives (father and son, nephew & uncle, etc.) and family groups - you will find a period in time where everyone seems to be a child of a couple named William & Mary or Samuel & Ann, with several couples of the name living in the district you're researching, all with children named with the most popular names of the times! The sex of some names is not always clear - examples include Treasure (male) or a Frances (actually male - "Francis") marrying Eli (actually female - "Elly").

5. Dates - the general rule is to never trust a date! Accurate dates of birth may be given for modern registrations and in a few church records at baptism. Family bibles may be a help, but can be written from memory long after the event - beware of the same ink and handwriting for all entries; a sure sign the dates were written at the same time and therefore will be less reliable. Women will commonly reduce their age on marriage, and perhaps those under "full age" may increase their age upon marriage or joining the armed forces. Censusreturns are notoriously unreliable, particularly when looking for a date for a husband's death - if the woman is at home while the husband is away, she could be given as Head of household or assumed a widow. The 1841 census in the UK is rounded to the nearest five years. Dates around birth may be confused between birth and baptism. Some families wait 3-5 years before baptising children, and adult baptisms are not uncommon. Both birth and marriage dates can be adjusted to cover for pre-wedding pregnancies. It is very common for the first child to be born before or within a few months of a marriage and perhaps baptised in the mother's name, later adopting the father's name after marriage. The father's name can be used even if no marriage has occurred. In 1752 the 25th March became 1st January, so two dates and years may appear around this time. The 24th of March 1751/52 occurred before the 1st of January 1751/52.

External links

• A categorised directory of tens of thousands of genealogy web sites
• The LDS Church's online database of family history data, Ancestral File
• RootsWeb.com - free genealogy site
• - free genealogy site with 324 million names
• A genealogy message board
• PhpGedView Online genealogy viewer

• A directory of online information for genealogy in the British Isles

• Ellis Island Records
• More on Ellis Island
• Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records (United States)

• The GRANDMA Project, 672,293 people of German-Russian Mennonite Ancestry

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