Family Tree of Knowledge 3: The Anatomy of Genealogical Research

In reality, genealogical research is not an easy “hobby” to undertake. It requires a huge amount of patience, persistence, hard slog, and many other worthy attributes. For accurate genealogical research it is required that, having found a potential ancestor, the researcher ought to attempt to establish him or her fully in the lineage through additional evidence from further research. Researchers may forget, or even ignore, this important point, but ultimately it will be at their cost. Genealogical research that eventually goes “off-track” is highly expensive and fruitless.
With genealogical research one has to be a detective to search out the clues, and a barrister (a prosecuting or defence attorney) to prove the case. That, unfortunately, is the true nature of this beast. Throughout history genealogy had always come under the umbrella of the legal profession, and in practice remains so.
It has often been boasted that some had traced their families entirely through on-line genealogical research. In reality, however, that would be an impossible task! They may have traced persons with the same names as their ancestors, but how do they know that they are the correct ones if they had not confirmed them with other sources? If continued in this vein, they would merely compound their problems. To discover one’s true ancestor involves a great deal more in genealogical research than clicking buttons on a computer, and even solely searching through parish register fiches for baptisms and marriages.
An acquaintance with an uncommon name, with the help of information software, discovered hundreds with the same name currently living in England. Bearing in mind that in previous generations there were very much fewer forenames in existence than today (and in the sixteenth century, many families had two or more children with the same name), genealogical research naturally becomes more difficult.
Most on-line researchers trace their families through the International Genealogical Index. The IGI has been around for many years, but, in the main, professionals only use it as a guide when undertaking genealogical research. It is a great concept, but, unfortunately, it started off badly by including numerous inaccuracies, and sometimes complete fallacies, which can never be corrected, despite the compilers’ numerous attempts.
When undertaking genealogical research, on-line researchers can only key in to what is already there. They will naturally be unable to trace what is not there. Hampshire (a county in England) contains over 250 parishes. Yet, less than 20% of the county was ever covered on the IGI, and this minute portion of the whole is largely concentrated in the south of the county. So, if an on-line researcher is looking for somebody, supposedly born about 1700, and if the real ancestor was born in northern Hampshire, the enquirer who only undertakes on-line genealogical research will never know. Instead, he or she would have “adopted” an ancestor who was not in the least related to the family. One can never assume that somebody with the same name as one’s ancestor was that ancestor, without undertaking further time-consuming accurate genealogical research.
Local knowledge is also very important, and on-line genealogical research could never be a substitute for it. Accurate research entails numerous activities, and can quite often include the use of professional and local assistance. It cannot be accomplished solely through the means of a computer. Pure on-line genealogical research can ultimately become the most expensive kind, for the chances of tracing the wrong ancestors increase dramatically through this method of investigation. That surely cannot be in anybody’s interest - except perhaps those who profit from promoting this type of genealogical research.

[The author is a professional genealogist and historical researcher of 35 years' experience, dealing with all types of sources in England, but now specialising in medieval, manorial and legal work. For more information visit http://www.thechangingseasons.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=22&chapter=40 ]

Family Tree of Knowledge 2: Factual or Fictitious Family Ancestor

The modern concept of tracing one’s family ancestor as a leisure activity was virtually unknown before the Victorian period. Until then genealogy had primarily been used as a legal process, in order to support a claim – to a crown, rank or title, or office (wholly confirmed through descent from a renowned family ancestor), or, more commonly, to prove title to property. Pedigrees can even be found among medieval and later law court papers .
Furthermore, those pedigrees compiled by the heralds at the College of Arms in London always show the descent from a certain family ancestor, who had been officially granted a coat-of-arms. They were drawn up in order that his descendants would then be legally confirmed as entitled to bear and display his coat-of-arms. It is indeed a modern fallacy to suggest that there is such a thing as a “family coat-of-arms”. This notion is hawked by market-traders and “genealogical” websites, who prey upon the uninitiated and ignorant, enforcing the misconception that every surname has a coat-of-arms. The only people entitled to a coat-of-arms are those who can legally prove descent from a certain armigerous family ancestor – that is, a family ancestor who had been granted that device in the first place.
Likewise, false information, and, more importantly, “filling the void” when no evidence exists or survives, has caused numerous false genealogies over the centuries. Many members of the English nobility still claim descent from a family ancestor who supposedly fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Yet, the main source for their claims – the Battle Abbey Roll – had been proved (in 1901) to be compiled over 300 years after that event had taken place, and was therefore undoubtedly “invented”. For most of the families who claim to have a French family ancestor, it was more than likely that the family ancestor did not arrive in England until many years after the famous battle.
Genealogical research can therefore prove to be very disappointing for those who are obsessed with finding a family ancestor who was “noble” or “royal” or extremely “notable”, for the simple reason that they are – and always were - the targets of unscrupulous “genealogists” and “historians”. There are certainly many more fictitious or inaccurate genealogies that have been compiled or claimed throughout the world than there are genuine ones, unfortunately. That would mean that many families would have a so-called family ancestor who was not actually related to them.
Although there is evidence stating that genealogy had been pursued as a leisure activity by a few individuals even before the mid-nineteenth century, the Victorians were the ones who had made family ancestor research popular, and had therefore, to a great degree, brought it into the world of the hobbyist and out of the hands of the legal profession. Victorian academics went to work transcribing multitudes of records that had previously been out of reach to the majority of the working and middle classes, and, as their labours were replicated by their successors, then the whole field began to open up, thus allowing more and more people to become hooked in their quest to discover their family ancestor.
Yet, until more recent years research had been limited to the few devotees, curious about a family ancestor. Non-enthusiasts had often stated their lack of interest in history as the reason why genealogy did not appeal to them. However, times they are a-changin’, and, amazingly, some of those very people who were never interested in history have even now become equally obsessed with the attempt to trace their family ancestor.

[The author is a professional genealogist and historical researcher of 35 years' experience, dealing with all types of sources in England, but now specialising in medieval, manorial and legal work. For more information visit http://www.thechangingseasons.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=22&chapter=40 ]