Genealogy has always been a bit of a detective story. You study information about your ancestors, do some research and find answers to your questions. Like any good detective, you take notes on what you find when you go forward. And what you get is valuable not only for you, but also for future researchers. Genealogy is a science that studies kinship.
Interesting and useful study.
For many people, this seems unnecessary, but there are those who with special interest and trepidation relate to the history of their own family and not only. Sources of genealogy - this is what ultimately connects the entire genealogy community - we all rely to some extent on each other's work, whether it be a family tree sent by your cousin or a family story written two centuries ago. Your research ensures that anyone who continues your business will not repeat your steps and can be sure that your facts come from reliable sources.
Good documentation can save time for more productive research. Keeping track of where you find ancestor information can help you quickly find it again in the future. Think about whether your children or any other relative wants to continue what you started. If you plan to publish or share information outside of your family, documentation becomes even more important. As global databases continue to expand, more and more people are looking for information about their ancestors.
What genealogy studies: sources and documentation
Sources and documentation, although they sometimes seem like extra work, are indeed the foundation of genealogy. Spending time validating your information will make your research more robust, adding more value to the entire genealogy community and leaving a longer legacy for those who follow you. The principle of evidence is valid for genealogy sources. Entries created by eyewitnesses during the event are generally much more reliable.
Documents created in places associated with your relatives, people who knew them, are more likely to relate to them (and not to other people with the same name). The same is true for objects transferred through the family. Before you rely on any genealogical sources to study family history, you must know their origin.
What is a legacy?
What is genealogy? The definition can be given as follows: this is a study of the origin and history of the family. The first known use can be observed on the example of the 14th century, in which it was customary to show the pedigree of royal, aristocratic blood lines as a means of conquest and control. It was discovered that some family trees, such as Confucius, have 80 generations dating back 2500 years. Originally transmitted by word of mouth, family genealogy was later depicted in the form of intricate paintings and records.
As during the genealogy of the ancient kings, which showed their connection with the gods, today's family stories are still a form of narration to preserve the past for future generations. Modern human genealogy can take the form of a simple collection and preservation of family information, up to adding information to the "world tree".
Studying family background and history
The scientific term itself comes from two Greek words: one meaning is “race” or “family”, and the other is “theory” or “science”. What does genealogy study? Lists of ancestors are collected, which are organized in pedigrees or in other written forms. Thus it turns out to "trace the pedigree." Genealogy is a science that studies family history. It is a universal phenomenon and in forms ranging from rudimentary to relatively complex, it occurs in all countries and periods.Oral tradition and early written records
At the dawn of civilization, before written records were made, oral traditions played an important role. Oral transmission of genealogical information is almost always a list of names, for example, clans of ancient Irish kings. Such lists sometimes include important events. Under the influence of Europe, some Asian countries have adopted the practice of maintaining systematic reports for all citizens.
With the invention of writing, oral transmission has become a written tradition. This happened in Greece and Rome, where information about childbirth was recorded in verses and in history. Genealogy is a science that studies the history of previous generations, but at this stage it was not a science, because when writers did this, they most likely did it by accident in their narrative. In China, with its ancient system of ancestral worship, long, drawn out pedigrees, including claims to be from Confucius, are not new.
Bible sources
The systematic preservation of genealogical records, as in Europe since 1500, did not occur until recently in Asia and Africa. There are many genealogies in the Bible whose purpose is to show descent from Adam, Noah, and Abraham. By the time these genealogies became part of the Jewish scriptures, the concept of racial purity had strengthened the preservation of family records. The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the New Testament seeks to show his descent from David, that which in the Gospel of Luke occurs back in Adam, "who was the son of God."
Genealogy is a science that studies kinship. The idea of divine origin was reflected everywhere in a wildly polytheistic form among the Gentiles. Almost without exception, the heroes had paternity attributed to the gods. Greek fables abound in the stories of great people born of gods and mortals. In Roman genealogies, heroes always come from the gods. For example, Julius Caesar was to arise from the line of Aeneas, therefore, from Venus. Among the northern peoples who overwhelmed the Western Roman Empire, faith in divine sonship was common.
Modern genealogy
Fans in this topic are almost always aroused by the desire to trace their family history. In the process, they discover and work with general principles that apply to pedigrees other than their own, although records other than those applicable to their own business do not interest them. A professional analyst is interested not in one family, but in many, as well as in the principles of genealogical research that arise from a broad analysis.
Since there are several university courses in the subject and, therefore, several degrees or other certificates of professional excellence, a professional should be basically self-taught. The disciplines required for professional genealogy include a thorough knowledge of the history of the country and its neighbors. National history determines the form of national genealogy, and genealogy can illuminate many aspects of national history that would otherwise remain unclear.
Genealogists use verbal interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other data mining methods to obtain family information and demonstrate the kinship and pedigrees of their clients. Results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The desire to document family history tends to be formed for several reasons, including because of the desire to leave a place for their family in a larger historical picture, and also because of a sense of responsibility for preserving the past for future generations.