Compilation of a pedigree. How to find out about your ancestors by last name on the Internet and archives?

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

Almost everyone, over time, has a desire to learn more about their family and ancestors. Who were they and what did they do, what kind of memory did they leave about themselves? But, unfortunately, few can boast of a good knowledge of their pedigree. In the daily bustle, people have no time to listen to the stories of elderly family members about distant and, it seems, completely unimportant things. After all, you need to work, raise children, do household chores. Where can one patiently listen to grandmother's memories of people who have long been dead?

However, with age, the craving for one's origins appears in almost every person.

Search for roots. Where to start?

So how do you know the history of your ancestors? You can ask questions to senior family members - they will tell about their parents, grandparents. Elderly relatives will tell much more than any archive, because they are living witnesses of history. Suchit is better to write down memories on any medium or take notes, and only then systematize.

Old photographs play an important role in restoring the history of their ancestors. They are usually signed, and in this way you can find out what a relative looked like, with whom he talked, where he lived.

Diaries and letters must be collected. The stamp on the envelope may indicate where one of the ancestors worked or served, and the notes will help restore the chronology of events.

What can a surname tell about?

You can learn a lot about your ancestors by their last names. As a rule, she can tell about the origins of the birth of the clan, indicate belonging to a certain class. For ordinary people, peasants and artisans, the surname was often formed from the name, profession, nickname or appearance, and for representatives of the nobility from the name of the family's possessions.

Special directories contain information on the history of the origin of the surname. Sometimes she can say a lot about her carriers, because it is not for nothing that the main character traits inherent in the family were reflected on the family coats of arms and seals of noble people.

Using archives

Unfortunately, not everyone has relatives who can tell about their ancestors. Surname - both by chance and on purpose can be significantly changed. Some representatives of the nobility could give their children truncated or changed surnames. Records in church books are also sometimes erroneous. Therefore, for the exact result, you need to go to the archive.

The population census in our country has been conducted since the 18th century. All important documents, such as marriage, birth and death certificates, were issued in two copies, one of which remained in the church, and the other was transferred to the vault.

Visiting the archive requires a lot of free time and painstaking work. Some of the departments are closed to ordinary visitors, and they can only be visited with special passes. A huge number of documents greatly complicates the task of restoring the history of the family. Those who do not have time to visit the archives can turn to professionals for help.

But it is important to understand that before starting the search, you need to collect at least minimal data on your ancestors, find out both the last name and the year and place of birth. Without such information, even experts are unlikely to be able to help.

Search for relatives on the Web

Some archival data has now been converted to electronic form, and therefore more and more people are trying to find out about their ancestors on the Internet. By last name and place of birth, you can find the burial places of soldiers who died or went missing during the war, clarify the fate of relatives if information about them was posted on the Web. If there is no data on the Internet, but it is known for sure that they are in the archive, then you can try to write a request there. It is important to understand here that some documents are still classified, and no one can provide this information.

OnSpecialized sites dedicated to genealogy, you can find a lot of useful tips on where to start. The recommendations will help you understand the confusing terminology of kinship, tell you what information and where to look, teach you how to systematize the data obtained, and on their basis correctly draw up a family tree.

Compiling a pedigree

All found papers, photographs, collected in one pile, have an unattractive appearance. Therefore, all known information about their ancestors must be systematized. The generally accepted way is to draw up a family tree of the family, which is a diagram of all family ties.

There are certain design rules: the roots of the tree are the oldest representatives of the genus, the trunk is the main representatives, the branches are the descendants. Sometimes there is an opposite arrangement of family ties.

When compiling a family tree, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the inheritance of the genus. In Russian families, it was transmitted only through the male line, and if there were no children in the family or only girls appeared, then the lineage was considered interrupted.

You can make a family tree both on your own and with the help of specialists. It will be a real gift for any family celebration and will be passed down from generation to generation, acquiring new descendant branches.

Moscow was not built right away…

Compiling a pedigree is a painstaking task that requires a lot of time andgreat desire to understand the history of their ancestors. As practice shows, not everyone can learn by surname, because it could undergo various changes or be lost for several generations.

Another difficulty is that a lot of information was lost or deliberately destroyed in the cycle of bloody events of the 20th century. The revolution and wars that claimed millions of human lives, hundreds of thousands of children who ended up in orphanages after the loss of their parents, and sometimes do not even know and do not remember their family - all this is a serious obstacle to establishing genealogical roots.

Great desire, patience and diligence are indispensable in this difficult task. Many give up what they started in the middle, unable to get through the intricacies of family ties, a huge amount of documents and information. But when the information that has been painstakingly collected bit by bit begins to take shape, this becomes the best incentive to continue such a great cause as restoring the history of your Family.