Basic Genealogy - Introduction

• Genealogy - What is it?
  See Genealogy per the Wikipedia
  Nearly synonomous with Family History
• What Makes Genealogy Such A Common Pursuit?
  • Curiosity about ancestors, one's own origins
  • Aunt Minnie's Stories you heard as a kid
  • An old family bible with names you never heard
  • The possibility you have a Famous/Infamous forebearer
  • The Internet has made communication so much easier
  • A natural desire to pass your story on to your children and grandchildren
  • My own motivation - a letter of inquiry in the mail
• Family History - A Traditional Way to Pass Information to Close Family
  Collection/Transmission of Data
  • Bible record - often just list of births, deaths and marriages
    Sometimes relationships not even shown
  • A Family Tree (Descendants) of an admimired family member
    Example: Sample Descendancy Tree
  • A Pedigree for a close family member
    Example: Sample Pedigree
  • Possibly with biographical highlights for some family member/s
  • Usually done by someone else
  • Hand printed or typewritten
  • Probably already out of date
    New generation every 25 years or so
    Much family knowledge disappears every generation
    Doesn't get passed to all possible lines of descent
  • A hit or miss thing - many are not interested
• Published guides/textbooks/resources:
  Two basic types of books:
  Nearly a dozen books introducing the subject - at Barnes and Noble
  Several "Source/Resource" books - addresses where to write - Won't need if using the Internet
• This Course Assumes You the Student Want To Go Beyond What Others Have Left You Concering Your Own Ancestry
  Jump In - A Wealth of Information is Available
  • Lots of "How To" Help Available
  • Where is genealogical data? -- Sources of Information
  • How is it organized? -- Guides Search Method
  • Reaching Conclusions
  • Organizing and Documenting Your Findings

© Prepared by Jay November 16, 2011