Why Genealogy?

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Your reasons and goals for ancestry research.

Transcript

So firstly, for this little exercise, how to think about your own reasons to trace your ancestry, you'll probably find that there are a mixture of some of the reasons that I have already given you what you might have your own personal reasons. I'd love to hear about these or maybe you could share them on the forum. Secondly, it's a very good idea to start with a plan about what your goals are. And you might be thinking, Oh, I just want to find out who my ancestors are. But remember, each time you go back a generation, then you double the amount of family lines to research. And after a while, this can add up to a hell of a lot of family lines very easily to quickly get overwhelmed and confused about the lines you're following where you want to go next.

So it's far better to start with a definite plan and mostly the best way to start is with your paternal male line. So you're tracing your own surname back through the centuries as far as possible. And then you might think, well, I'll stop at a certain point there as far back as I can, or to the beginning of the 19th century or whatever. And then I'm going to look at my mother's line. And once you've done that, then you might want to go to your grandmother's your paternal grandmother, your maternal grandmother's line, and so on. Alternatively, for some people, they like to look at a particular person or a particular nuclear family, and find out as much about them as they can.

This involves a certain amount of historical background research as well as genealogy, but it can be immensely interesting and rewarding. Some people getting back as far as possible is a real achievement and I just want to get back to at least 16th century and have that as a real goal. For others. This isn't so important and some people prefer to just keep within the more recent past, maybe back to the early 19th century, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, or something like that. Any of these reasons are perfectly valid. But it's very useful to start your research knowing what you want and how far you want to go.

So by doing this, you'll be getting the best possible experience out of your new hobby. So go ahead and write down your reasons for tracing your ancestors and what your goals are and how you want to proceed. So when you start your research, you'll have a very good idea of where you're trying to get to

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