Records in genealogical research
Records of persons who were neither
royalty nor nobility began to be taken by
governments in order to keep track of their
citizens (In most of Europe, for example,
this started to take place in the 16th century).
As more of the population began to be recorded,
there were sufficient records to follow a
family using the paper trail they left behind.
As each person lived his or her life, major
events were usually documented with a license,
permit or report which was stored at a local,
regional or national office or archive. Genealogists
locate these records, wherever they are stored,
and extract information to discover family
relationships and recreate timelines of persons'
lives.
Records that are used in genealogy research
include:
- Vital records
- Birth records
- Death records
- Marriage and divorce records
- Adoption records
- Baptism or christening records
- Biographies and biographical profiles (as in Who's Who, etc.)
- Cemetery records, funeral home records, and tombstones
- Census records
- City directories and telephone directories
- Coroner's reports
- Criminal records
- Diaries, personal letters and family Bibles
- Emigration, immigration and naturalization records
- Hereditary & lineage organization records, e.g. Daughters of the American Revolution records
- Land and homestead records, deeds
- Medical records
- Military and conscription records
- Newspaper columns
- Obituaries
- Occupational records
- Oral history
- Passports
- Photographs
- Poorhouse, workhouse, almshouse, and asylum records
- School and alumni association records
- Ship passenger lists
- Social Security Administration (within the USA) and pension records
- Tax records
- Voter registration records
- Wills and probate records
As a rule, genealogists begin with the present and work backward in time. Written
records have the property of hindsight in that
they only tell where a person might have lived
and who their parents were, not where they and
their descendants might subsequently reside.
Two exceptions are when a genealogist might
interview living relatives as to who and where
their children and grandchildren are, or tries
to locate long-lost relatives who may already
have traced their families backward to an ancestor
they have in common (which is forward in time
from his/her point of view).
|
