Types of genealogy research

Researching your family tree can take many forms but most importantly, choosing a focus that is relevant to yourself and your family will be motivating and provide you with some great sources of information.

Immediate Family

Some people want a record of relevant dates and /or a simple visualisation of who their family is. This will often involve a list of birthdays and other events and they may even draw up a chart that shows their immediate family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and then maybe add the same information in for their parents.

Ancestors

A common form of research is to trace your own or a family members direct ancestors. If this appeals to you then you should look to using a pedigree chart. People doing this type of research often find themselves wanting to know more about their direct ancestors families including how many siblings they had, in this case a family group sheet or a genealogy program can become a useful way of recording information.

• WeRelate person and family pages have a Pedigree-map available by looking in the more tab.

• You can use pedigree templates to show ancestors on a page.

Descendants

Instead of starting with a family member and working backwards in time, a descendant tree selects a person and then records all the descendants of that family. There are some very large descendant trees that genealogists maintain for the descendants of royal families and other historical figures such as Confucius or Charlemagne. My own experiences of researching descendant trees is that as I have included more descendants of my ancestors in my family tree I have met more and more distant cousins who have been able to assist me in getting a better picture of my ancestors families.

• Wikitree has an easy to use descendant feature.

One-Name-Study

A one name study is when a genealogist chooses to research all people with the same surname, this is usually done with surnames that have thousands, not millions of people with the same surname. This type of research is often something that a genealogist has decided to do in order to see if they can find other connections within their own family tree.

• Links to One name studies both on WeRelate and externally.

Location Study

A location study is when a genealogist chooses to research all people within a location, often for a particular time period. This type of research is often something that a genealogist has decided to do because they have strong connections with that area and if the research goes back before the 1800's the families are often intertwined.

• The Tapestry is a great example of a locational study.

• From every place page you can look at What links here for a list of all sources, people and families that have a connection to that location.

Your Research

It doesn't matter how you decide to focus your research, as you learn more about your family there is a good chance you will want too know even more. You will likely find that in your research you will benefit from the work of others, whether it is the stories told by a grandparent, a distant great aunt who recorded the birthdays of all her siblings, someone conducting a one name study that is relevant to your tree or a descendant tree that you are listed in. For most people their research will end up having a bit of an ancestor and descendent focus, with a stronger focus on the family lines that are more immediate to their direct ancestors and descendants.

Suggestion:

Start with a five generation pedigree chart as this will range from your children to your great grandparents and often this type of information is available through the collective memories of yourself, your parents and even your grandparents if they are still around. As you go beyond the fifth generation then it is likely that all the people are deceased so why not add all the information you find into WeRelate. Be aware that for many people just getting all the one-hundred and twenty-six names and associated family information for the ancestors on a seven generation pedigree chart could take years unless someone else has already completed a lot of the research for you.