But What Is Genealogy?

 

Image: Tentes/Pixabay

A lot of people have never even heard of genealogy.

So I thought I'd take everything back to basics and explain a little of what it is that I do.

Genealogy is, simply, the study of family history - of lines of descent and 'pedigree.'

Your line of descent is your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, etc. going back in time until you reach a point when you can't find any more (accurate) information.

Centuries ago, nobility would hire genealogists to draw up family trees showing their lineage (and therefore how posh they were and whether they could use the family coat of arms!)

Over time it's become more than just a long list of ancestors and their perceived 'good breeding,' and more about the stories that family trees contain.

Family history creates a real and tangible connection between us and the history that we hear about at school or in documentaries.

It's one thing to hear about the industrial revolution, and another to learn about an ancestor who was killed in dangerous working conditions, or a relative who lost children to the extreme poverty and disease of the Victorian slums.

It makes a difference to know that we wouldn't be alive today if these series of events hadn't taken place in the ways that they did.

Family history - genealogy - makes history personal, because it is.

We are the result of all the historical events that came before us - products of chance and circumstance - without history, each of us, as individuals, would not be here, and would not be the people who we are today.