Genealogical research is the process of using both official and unofficial records to search for information about an individual's lineage. Official records include wills, military rosters, newspaper obituaries, birth and death certificates, adoption papers, city directories, marriage certificates, immigration papers, and genetic testing. Unofficial records include traditional oral history and unverified writings such as diaries.
Although often used interchangeably with family history research, the difference is that while family history starts with a living person and connects them to their predecessors, genealogy begins with a dead person and connects them to their successors. Genealogies may take the form of family trees, a structure where each relative is labeled according to their place in the family, or may be presented in the form of narratives, a story-like telling of ancestral history.
The quest to undertake genealogical research usually tends to be a result of varied motives, such as the intention to unveil a familiar link to history, a desire to leave a legacy for future generations, an accurate understanding of an individual's past, and more recently, an improvement in the digitization of these sources along with the sped-up process of genetic testing. Discovery of ancestral origins may also be conducted for educational or forensic purposes.
Researchers use several procedures to execute their study to produce documentation that is as accurate as possible. The complex process starts by collating family documents about ancestral and kinship ties from the living family members to create a foundation for research. Family documents such as vital documents (birth, marriage, and death certificates), pedigree sheets, and family group charts, both handwritten and digital, are used in this primary process. These records (documents) must be original. Any copies that change the history in any way are considered derivatives and must be used in accordance with the historical and social context.
Due to the absence or loss of original records, genealogists have to use inference with compiled sources containing derived materials or authored sources like biographies or autobiographies. Such compiled sources, especially those from the 19th and 20th centuries, must be verified for accuracy before compilation into the database.
The next step is to streamline the research after collating the proper records. Once the genealogist has identified the families involved in that particular history, they use a research log to collate information from each family one at a time, noting the research objectives and selecting the easiest ones to begin with, and working down to the most difficult ones.
Further, the researcher connects the information given by the families with the records already procured. Conduct interviews with the families, collect new information, and compare it to the primary sources available for accurate evaluation. After this has been done, organize and then input the latest information into the designated database before presenting it to the individual who requested such research.
An example of a database that undertakes genealogical research in the United States is Gale Databases. They provide biographical information on individuals living and dead from different eras, geographic regions, and professional fields. Over 17 million references are indexed in biographical charts, covering over 2000 publications and about 5 million people. The Biography and Genealogy Master Index on Gale databases references a person's names, lifespans, pictures, portraits, and written historical references.
