Genealogy is Family Friendly

Recently a cousin I didn't know I had contacted me about a genealogy matter. It turned out that she knew a lot more about my maternal grandfather than did anyone else in my immediate family. My grandfather had died when my mother was very young. Eventually, by pooling resources and contacting other relatives, we were able to pull together a rather comprehensive storyline, complete with dates for when my maternal grandmother and when my maternal grandfather's parents emigrated to the United States via Ellis Island.

This little episode is indicative of the growing popularity of genealogical research, not just among the Baby Boomer generation but also among younger folks. Ancestry.com, the well-known online website featuring searchable records of many types, has a paid membership of over a million individuals. Visitorship is up at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, a location holding extensive microfiche files of vital records and other genealogical resources. This institution, associated with the Mormon Church, also has satellite facilities in many locations. But my new cousin prefers making a pilgrimage to the main site to check and copy records as documentation for the family history she is planning on publishing this year in a second edition. Other families caught up with the genealogy bug plan vacations to visit old homesteads and cemeteries hosting known relatives in the U.S. or abroad. Tours to get in touch with your roots are popular, with the latest wrinkle being a chance to have your DNA evaluated and exact locations pinpointed prior to setting up an itinerary.

To get started in setting up your family tree, you need to make up a chart. Free printable examples are available on several Internet sites. But you can easily make up your own, one with all the space you need to list dates, facts, quotes, anecdotes, whatever. Consider the chart a family treasure to be passed down and enlarged. Genealogy software is also available if you wish to do everything on your computer.

Serious genealogical researchers go to great lengths to document every date, sending away for birth, marriage, and death certificates, for a start. Next, they will check census records, some of which include street addresses and occupations, and go on to emigration records, property deeds, military information, cemetery listings, and voter registrations. It takes a considerable amount of time to search for small bits of data and clues about ancestors, some of whom may have passed away only recently and some of whom may have used variant name spellings and been cavalier about dates and other information.

The TV program "Who Do You Think You Are?" delves into the genealogies of celebrities. Such a show would not be possible without the public's increased interest in the topic. Others have discovered interesting relationships recently, including the fact that Madonna and Ellen De Generes are said to be 11th cousins, and that President Obama is distantly related to Warren Buffet, the wealthy investment guru. But the study of family pedigrees isn't really all that new, as the Bible's Book of Ruth traces the roots of King David and Genesis lists the generations going from Adam to Noah. Yet, on another scale altogether is the Confucius family tree, which at 2500 years and counting, is the largest and oldest such record of ancestry in the world, with the next update expected to include over 2 million names.

John Naish, "Ancestor-hunting holidays get a DNA boost", The Times (London)
"New Confucius Genealogy out next year", China.org.cn