Family history is perishable ...

Waratah Scrapbook 1

THE SHIP THAT FELL INTO DAVY JONES'S LOCKER

All the above from Daily News 19.9.87

Click on the pics to zoom

Who Do You Think Your Ancestor Is?

In the merry pursuit of ancestry, leaping lightly from twig to twig on the family tree, we tend to lose sight of the fact that an ancestor is a person from whom one is directly descended. That is, by blood, which is why an Ancestry Chart is sometimes referred to as a Blood Descent. A correctly produced Ancestry Chart includes all lines of ascent through male and female lines.

For genealogical purposes, the term family includes all people of the same name and blood descended from a common male-line ancestor. This is quite different from the everyday usage of the term, which includes close relatives of both father and mother and grandchildren by both sons and daughters.

These days, the study of  family history covers research into one’s forebears, often with the object of putting together a narrative history for the benefit of living relatives and future generations. An ideal narrative history should place the family members in the context of their times, giving an insight into their life events.

Since the number of ancestors doubles with each generation, there are more than enough direct ancestors to research without starting on collateral lines. Sometimes, of course, a ‘sideways search’ might help in identifying a problem ancestor.

The photograph below shows a group of my HAMILTONs: of those included, only my great grandfather, great grandmother and their son, my grandfather, are my direct ancestors. The others are my grandfather’s siblings.

Hamiltons of Stevenston, Ayrshire

A few quick searches on ScotlandsPeople provide information on all of them – but where does it all end? Do I proceed further forward to the next generation and the next, in each case? There has to be some consideration of time and costs in such an exercise.

The alternative is to stick to the direct line and use the extra time for in-depth research into the people from whom I truly descend. Disadvantage: going that route you could miss a wealth of interesting stories and some weird and wonderful distant cousins.

While on the subject, descendant is another term bandied about indiscriminately. A descendant has a proven descent from a particular ancestor. I have used this example before, but it’s a good one: nobody could describe themselves as a descendant of the poet John Keats, who had no children and therefore has no descendants. Ergo, a person descended from Keats’s brother cannot refer to Keats as his ancestor nor to himself as a descendant of Keats. (With apologies to Terrick FitzHugh for mangling his perfect prose.)

Correct spelling of the word Genealogy

Mark Howells writes:
One of the most common mistakes made by beginners in the hobby of family history is to spell genealogy incorrectly. Nothing shouts out ‘I don't know what I'm doing!’ louder than the misspelling of this pivotal word in our hobby.
Typically, most failed attempts at spelling genealogy put the letter ‘O’ where the letter ‘A’ belongs. Like this:

geneology

Because this misspelling is such an endemic problem, I devised a little memory aid to assist in remembering the correct spelling of the word. The first letters of each word in this very true sentence combine to form the correct spelling of genealogy. Remember the sentence and you'll be able to spell the word correctly every time.

Genealogists Examine Needed Evidence At Lots Of Grave Yards

www.oz.net/~markhow/writing/spelling.htm

Mark, I couldn’t agree more.
P.S. I see that one of the advertisements shown on my blog contains the word ‘geneology’: I did not write this ad.

Instant family history?

Computers and the internet revolutionized the study of genealogy and family history, speeding up communications and giving access to huge amounts of data. This is all good but there are unfortunate spin-offs. People’s expectations have changed: they want ‘instant’ family history. Not only that but they’re prepared to believe whatever they find on the web. Both these attitudes are bad. Anyone can upload information on websites and forums and these offerings may or may not be accurate. Pre-digested genealogical trees should be treated with particular caution. Unless you want a family history full of perpetuated errors, check every fact. Go back to original records wherever possible.

There’s no such thing as instant family history. Access to online Census, BMD and other records may help to provide the basics of a family tree and if all you want is a decorative chart, accurate or not, to hang on the dining-room wall you might well be able to achieve that in a weekend. If that is all you want, don’t bluff yourself that you’re a family historian – you aren’t.

If you want more than that – and I really hope you do - the aim is not to gallop ahead collecting a pile of dubious details in the shortest possible time, and arrive panting at some imaginary finish line saying ‘I’ve done my family history. Next?’

Family history research is a quest for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There are no shortcuts.

Genealogy, Family History & Surnames

I’m sometimes asked what the difference is between genealogy and family history. These terms are used as if they’re interchangeable but strictly speaking genealogy refers to the tracing of particular lines of descent. Family history indicates a wider focus of research: uncovering the details of the ancestors’ lives and times. The phrase ‘putting flesh on the bones’ is overworked; nevertheless it’s what the family historian is attempting to achieve. Theoretically it might be possible to be a genealogist without being a family historian – but not vice versa.

Returning to the subject of surname distribution and frequency, the name Swires – my paternal grandmother’s maiden name – is far from commonly-found: only three instances per million people in the UK, the current total number with that surname being 130. At the time of the 1881 Census there were 106 individuals named Swires in Yorkshire, pointing to a concentration of the surname in my grandmother’s family’s county of origin. In comparison with this rarity of occurrence, Gadsden - my father's surname - crops up 12 times per million people in the UK, and is most numerous in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Gadsdens are very thin on the ground in South Africa, but there are thousands in the US. Variant spellings of Gadsden cause complications: GADSEN, GADSON, GADESDEN etc.

For a specialist’s view of the topic and some remarkable nuggets of information, I recommend Colin D. Rogers’ book, The surname detective: Investigating surname distribution England, 1086-present day.