All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
~ Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Why Begin a Genealogical Research?
Whatever the reason is that spurs you to embark on an ancestor genealogical search journey, it is an important, life-changing choice that will positively impact not only your life, but the lives of your family and descendants. Tracing ancestry is the gathering of truthful and provable knowledge that allows you to understand your ancestors’ lives, and how their experiences will influence generations to come.
When you trace your ancestry, you willingly open the door to facts, information, and data that would remain lost, but for your desire to seek the answers. Ancestor search requires curiosity, patience, exploration, and a craving for adventure.
Tracing ancestry can reveal happy news, but it can also divulge sad and unexpected news; therefore, embarking on an ancestor search is not for the faint of heart. It is for the historian, the explorer, the truth-seeker. In the end, tracing genealogical ancestry may instill pride in you for the actions of your foreparents, but it may also require forgiveness and acceptance for less-honorable actions discovered.
There is no one reason to initiate a research. In fact, you may be continuing a that was already started for you. Either way, the motivation for tracing genealogical ancestry can be based on a plethora of reasons: searching for lost relatives, trying to find legal heirs for land or pension benefits, seeking dual citizenship by jus sanguinis, answering what your ethnic proportions are, finding biological parents or children, proving Native Ancestry and Tribal citizenship, joining a lineage society, building your genealogy tree, et al. Your ancestor search may be just for your gratification or a gift to your family.
A research may be a large project, or it may be a small project. One thing for sure – when you trace your ancestry, it is a never-ending project. When you are tracing your ancestry, your research may be limited to the United States; however don’t be surprised if your search takes you beyond the shores of the U.S. When you trace your ancestry, you sometimes have to be prepared to search internationally, as is the case if you are seeking dual citizenship, or exploring your immigrant ancestors.
If you are adopted, you may be tracing ancestry to discover a biological parent. If you gave your baby up for adoption, then you may trace your ancestry in reverse, by seeking a descendant. Either way, the research is conducted as it would be for a search, just going forward. Additionally, this sort of ancestor research is sensitive and emotional, so great heed must be given to handle it properly.
If you are a descendant of a Holocaust survivor or victim, or just want to trace your Jewish genealogy, tracing ancestry can be a difficult process. The same is true for other international searches. By no means are they impossible; however, you may need the assistance of a professional genealogist like us.
If you are tracing ancestry to prove an adoption case, verifying heirs and beneficiaries for veterans’ and pension benefits, supplying evidence for probate and estate cases, or locating the next-of-kin for unclaimed decedents, this sort of ancestor search is going to require stricter rules of corroboration. In these cases, you may need to obtain legal documentation to trace your ancestry. This sort of forensic genealogical research may require DNA genealogy testing.
Perhaps in the process of tracing ancestry, you just need the services of an Ancestor Search Specialist to conduct record lookup and retrieve documents, which may include baptismal records, death indexes, land deeds, marriage certificates, military records, obituaries, parish records, probates, social security death records, and wills.