I was always fascinated by the story of Sibyl, the woman with 12 multiple personalities (as featured in the eponymous movie starring Sally Field). Little did I know that deep in the depths of my genealogical past, I too, am a multiple personality.
This all started when I made the astonishing discovery that my parents were distant cousins—5th cousins twice removed to be precise. I don't know why I was so surprised, given the rather inbred part of the world from which I hail. I must admit, the thing that fascinates me the most is that my parents, who descend from a common ancestor, were 2 generations apart. During the time it took my father's line to produce 5 generations, my mother's line produced 7.
However, the most interesting, and relevant, consequence of this relationship is that it resulted in there being two lines of descent from my most distant ancestor to myself . . . and that means that I am my own 6th cousin twice removed (my parents were 5th cousins twice removed, so I am my own 6th cousin twice removed).
What's more ... as my genealogy software revealed, because my gggg-grandfather, John Last, married his first cousin, Mary Quinton, I am also my own 7th cousin!
Thus, there you have it, the secret's out. I am myself, I am my 6th cousin twiced removed, I am my 7th cousin.
There are some other interesting consequences to this. For example, all of my 1st cousins are also my 6th cousins twice removed and all of my paternal cousins (cousins on my father's side) are also my 7th cousins. What's more, my maternal grandfather (my mother's father) is also my 6th cousin, making my maternal aunts and uncles, also 6th cousins once removed! My paternal grandfather is also my 5th cousin twice removed as well as my 4th cousin 4 times removed . . . and so on.
I was happy being me but now I'm never alone because I shall always have 2 of my cousins to keep me company.
Technorati Tags: genealogy, ancestors, ancestry, family history, family tree
20 May 2006
19 May 2006
Research: Online: Using the IGI
19 May 2006
2
One of the most useful web sites for researching your family tree is the IGI (International Genealogical Index) database, at FamilySearch.org.
This site contains thousands of baptismal/christening, marriage and death records from all over the world, collated by members of the Mormon (LDS) church.
Many genealogists criticize the IGI because there are a lot of errors, mistranscriptions, duplicate records, etc. However, it provides a great point of reference when first tracking down your ancestors, to provide clues as to the location of original records, and simply to jumpstart your research.
The IGI allows you to search by last name, firstname, names of parents, name of spouse, year range, location and type of record (birth/christening/baptism, marriage, etc.). In my opinion, the biggest weakness of the IGI is that seemingly reasonably combinations of search parameters are sometimes not permitted. For example, if you try to search on last name + mother's first name + region, you will be told that:
"If you enter a last name without a first name, you must either not enter parent or spouse names, a year, or you must enter a batch number or a film number."
Why? I ask myself.
As you start to use the IGI regularly, you will eventually come across the concept of "Batch Numbers." Batches are essentially groups of records, often collected from a single parish, or group of parishes (or other locations). However, the IGI does not provide full details as to what is covered in each batch. However, various helpful souls have put together indexes of batch numbers, available online, to assist people with their IGI research. One of the best is the site compiled by Hugh Wallis, containing records from North America and Great Britain, which is hosted by Rootsweb.com.
Technorati Tags: genealogy, ancestors, ancestry, family history, family tree, genealogy tips, IGI, familysearch.org
This site contains thousands of baptismal/christening, marriage and death records from all over the world, collated by members of the Mormon (LDS) church.
Many genealogists criticize the IGI because there are a lot of errors, mistranscriptions, duplicate records, etc. However, it provides a great point of reference when first tracking down your ancestors, to provide clues as to the location of original records, and simply to jumpstart your research.
The IGI allows you to search by last name, firstname, names of parents, name of spouse, year range, location and type of record (birth/christening/baptism, marriage, etc.). In my opinion, the biggest weakness of the IGI is that seemingly reasonably combinations of search parameters are sometimes not permitted. For example, if you try to search on last name + mother's first name + region, you will be told that:
"If you enter a last name without a first name, you must either not enter parent or spouse names, a year, or you must enter a batch number or a film number."
Why? I ask myself.
As you start to use the IGI regularly, you will eventually come across the concept of "Batch Numbers." Batches are essentially groups of records, often collected from a single parish, or group of parishes (or other locations). However, the IGI does not provide full details as to what is covered in each batch. However, various helpful souls have put together indexes of batch numbers, available online, to assist people with their IGI research. One of the best is the site compiled by Hugh Wallis, containing records from North America and Great Britain, which is hosted by Rootsweb.com.
Technorati Tags: genealogy, ancestors, ancestry, family history, family tree, genealogy tips, IGI, familysearch.org
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