How to find out your origin? How to make a genealogical family tree

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Earlier, it was fashionable in noble families to know about their distant ancestors and their line of work. Today this custom has returned again. Many turn to specialist historians who are involved in compiling a family tree. But knowing the algorithm, how to find out your origin, you can try to delve into the archives yourself.

What is genealogy

The scientific discipline, which is based on historical data, is engaged in the study and compilation of the origin of the genus, is called genealogy. It is based on reliable documents, memoirs of ancestors and eyewitnesses, archival data.

There are two basic laws in genealogy:

1. The law of doubling the number of ancestors. It means that each person has two parents (father and mother, in other words, the first generation), who, in turn, also have their own parents (second generation), etc. The number of ancestors grows with a geometricprogression with a denominator 2. Already the fifth generation of ancestors has 64 names (without the names of brothers, sisters and their children).
2. No more than three generations can act in each century. This law is explained by the average life expectancy of a person.

What does pedigree mean

Popular science says that a pedigree is a register of all generations of the same genus. In the process of studying the history of their ancestors, the origin and level of relationship is established.

Pedigree must be studied in order to get to know the origin of your family and surname. In the process of getting acquainted with the fate of their ancestors and their occupation, one can find out the characteristic features of close and distant relatives, their location, origin. Also, the study of one's own pedigree allows you to establish a connection with your lost relatives. Equally important is familiarization with genetic diseases and the possibility of their prevention. Ancestral traditions, customs and legends will also be interesting for knowledge.

How to find out the origin of a kind: the main stages

In the process of studying your pedigree, you must go through a certain algorithm.

1. The first stage is the collection of information about their kind from the older generation. It would be advisable to use special questionnaires, which are based on the basics of the family tree. At this stage, they learn the names, patronymics, surnames of ancestors, their dates of birth and death, dates of weddings. Particularly important information concerns the places of residence of relatives, since they determine the places where archives are searched.documents.
2. The second stage is a detailed study of documents that testify to the fate of ancestors after the 1917 revolution and in the Soviet era. This information can be found in registry offices or city archives. However, when making a request to the appropriate authorities, it is necessary to indicate the degree of relationship with the ancestors.



3. At the third stage, they look for evidence of the fate of relatives in pre-revolutionary times. The main documents in which the necessary dates are fixed are the church parish registers. They cover the main religious sacraments - baptism, wedding, funeral service.
4. The fourth stage of compiling your genealogy is the study of revision tales, that is, population census data from 1719 to 1858. In each of 10 such revisions, there was a description not only of the person's passport data, but also of his relationship. You can find such documents in the archives of the regions and in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA).
5. The most persistent seekers go all the way to the bottom of the bloodline, or the fifth stage. In this case, one will have to study the census and scribe books from the 16th to the 17th centuries. These documents are stored in RGADA.

Genealogical expertise

The study of a pedigree begins with a genealogical examination. It should be carried out in order to collect and systematize information about ancestors and restore missing data from open sources. Based on the data of the genealogical examination, a skeleton of the family tree is created.

There are three types of genealogical expertise:

• Analysis of the family branches of one of the parents.
• Studying the family branches of both parents.
• Investigation of the parentage of spouse or spouse.

Expertise is carried out in several stages:

1. First, data is collected and relatives are interviewed, and information is checked and replenished.
2. Further, all data is entered into a special program that organizes the information and builds a family tree.
3. The next step is the examination of the results obtained, checking the reliability of the information. The process can take 4-8 weeks.
4. In order to deepen the information, requests are sent to the archives for all family clans.
5. Based on all the results of the study, a family tree is compiled.

Archive search stage

How to find out your origin? First you need to search the archives for any information about your ancestors. The investigation is usually carried out by a hired specialist. This process takes place in several stages:

• Working with primary sources in archives. Such documents include metrics, revision tales, confession murals, etc.
• Research other documentary sources to obtain additional data.

• After that, photocopies of the found documents are ordered.
• The final step is to analyze the received data and draw up a search report.

Search result in urbanarchives is a study report, a family tree of the family and a flash card on which all study materials are recorded.

What is a family tree

What is a family tree? This is, in fact, a scheme in the form of a sprawling plant, on the branches of which family ties are depicted.

It is not known for certain who coined the term "family tree". The Portuguese researcher of infographics Manuel Lima, studying the methods of visual display of family ties of a person, came to the conclusion that such a scheme existed in the ancient Christian culture. An analogue was the so-called tree of life, where the ancestors of famous biblical personalities were recorded. Such a scheme contains not only direct ancestors, but also their brothers and sisters with their families.

Thus, the concept of a family tree is as ancient as the whole system of visualization of scientific knowledge.

Steps in compiling a family tree

Before you make a genealogical tree of the family, you need to be patient. The process is quite lengthy and requires attention and perseverance. To get a good result, you need to go through several stages:

1. Conversation with living relatives (parents, grandparents and their siblings). All data received must be carefully recorded.
2. It is recommended that each interview be conducted alone with the interviewer in order to avoid confusion of testimony.
3. To collect detailed information, it is recommended to prepare mini-questionnaires usingwhich you can find out key details - dates and places of birth, degree of relationship, etc.
4. Next, in order to find out your family tree, you need to collect all the surviving old photographs of close and distant relatives and analyze who is depicted on them. This will help in drawing up related branches of the plant.
5. Studying family heirlooms and letters is the next step in building your own family tree.
6. The penultimate step of the study is visiting the area where the ancestors were born, communicating with neighbors.
7. Systematizing all the information received, you can turn to specialists to get a graphical display of the family tree.

Types of family tree

The scheme of kinship between members of the same family can be arranged in different ways:

1. Descending tree - from ancestor to descendants.
2. Ascending schema - from a particular individual to his ancestors.



3. Circular image, in the center of which one of the descendants is placed. In the second, outer circle are the father and mother. The third circle, divided into 4 parts, contains grandparents. This continues until all possible known ancestors are listed. Such a visualization is quite rare, however, the most compact.

We looked at what a family tree is and how to find out about your origin. We wish you good luck in finding your relatives.