Geneology Research

Genealogy research is a complicated process involving the collection of huge amounts of data from archived records, interviews, websites, libraries, and many other sources that can give a clue to a particular individual of the family being investigated. Sometimes the research resorts to DNA analysis to establish kinship. The information gathered has to be scrutinized for dependability, accuracy, and usability. The assembling and verification of data is only the initial stage; it has to be organized and presented in charts, reports or trees, which is more complex than the collection process. The correct individual must be placed at the correct branch of the ancestry family tree. Names, places, and dates have to be accurate. Advanced genealogy software can assist the professional and amateur genealogists in the generation of results from the accumulated data.

For a genealogist engaged in ancestry research, each and every source of information is a valuable research aid. The researcher starts from the family; family records like diaries, albums, Bibles, minutes of family reunions, letters, cards, etc. are examined to get a basic idea of the family members. Further proofs that substantiate the documentary evidences are explored. Genealogist access a lot of records as part of their research program. Documents such as birth or death certificates, marriage or divorce records, adoption records, biographies and autobiographies, census and church records, court and hospital records, survey records, military and immigration records, newspaper reports and obituaries, passenger records and refugee camp records, alumni records or yearbooks, town or village records, employment and pension records, bank and tax records, grave records and tombstone inscriptions, etc. are probed and verified. Even oral histories narrated by family members, friends, and acquaintances can give vital information to fill the gaps in the family tree. History of religious, racial, or community upheavals and wars also provide necessary data to a genealogist.

A stumbling block in a genealogist’s journey to find out the history of a family is the change in the maiden name of women in many cultures. Women adopt the surname of their spouses, and if a woman remarries, her surname changes again. Also, the naming traditions existing in several parts of the world are enough to create utmost confusion even for a master genealogist. Sometimes, families travel to distant countries or continents, settle there, and adopt the naming system of the host country which may be entirely different from that in their motherland. Tracing the family across continents becomes extremely difficult if given names, surnames, and middle names change over years.