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A family tree is what is commonly referred to as a collection of a person's ancestors or relatives. Creating your family tree or charting your family's history can be as simple as starting a generation or two back and charting the branches going forward or to tracing your lineage back many generations. The popular interest in... more »
Aside from a few old photographs in an album, many of us know little about the people in old family photos. Genealogy research is one way to learn more about the history of a family. The challenge is knowing where to begin the search for our origins. There is a lot of information other than from memory waiting to be discovered. In... more »
Genealogy is a growing hobby, with hundreds of thousands of people doing online searches each year, according to Family Tree Magazine. Creating a family tree can be a lot to handle when you're getting started--more than 100 websites are devoted to the topic. It'll take some dogged detective work, but you'll learn a lot about where... more »
Your family history can be a very interesting and important subject for you to educate yourself on. Not only will you possibly learn some amusing or down right strange facts about your ancestors, you may find things that will be important later in life. Knowing your family history can help in many medical decisions, and can help you... more »
Finding your ancestors in Germany is a relatively simple matter providing that you know the last name of at least one of your family members that immigrated. If you do not have that name then you will need search for ancestors from Germany in the many historical records that are kept by various organizations. Once your German... more »
Your name is one of the most important parts of who you are. It can define you and should be chosen carefully. The first name, or personal name,... more »
Genealogy (from Greek: , , "generation"; and , , "knowledge") is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives.
Some scholars differentiate between genealogy and family history, limiting genealogy to an account of kinship, while using "family history" to denote the provision of additional details about lives and historical context.
Overview
Hobbyist genealogists typically pursue their own ancestry and that of their spouses. Professional genealogists may also conduct research for others, publish books on genealogical methods, teach, or work for companies that provide software or online databases. Both try to understand not just where and when people lived, but also their lifestyles, biographies, and motivations. This often requires — or leads to — knowledge of antiquated laws, old political boundaries, migration trends, and historical social conditions.
Genealogists sometimes specialize in a particular group, e.g. a Scottish clan; a particular surname, such as in a one-name study; a small community, e.g. a single village or parish, such as in a one-place study; or a particular, often famous, person. Bloodlines of Salem is an example of a specialized family-history group. It welcomes members who are able to prove descent from a participant of the Salem Witch Trials or who choose simply to support the group.
Genealogists and family historians often join family history societies, where novices can learn from more experienced researchers. Such societies may also index records to make them more accessible, and engage in advocacy and other efforts to preserve public records and cemeteries.
Historical background
Historically, in Western societies the genealogical f read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy
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