Heritage Album - What do people expect to find in their Genealogy?

What do people expect to find in their Genealogy?

Recently a dinner guest shared how she and her husband are building a family history tree to see if their linage takes them back to being related to Jesus Christ. The reason they believe they are, is because one of their relatives traced her Genealogy back to Mary, Jesus mother. With that said, I am a greenhorn novice when it comes to this subject. But later that night, my wife and I joked and laughed about tracing our genealogy back to a shoemaker that sold Jesus his first pair of shoes. In other words, even if there is royalty in our bloodline, what does it matter to us today. Would it change anything about who or what we are? Which is why I post this question: What do people expect to find in their genealogy? ♫♪¸¸.•*¨*• So many excellent responses from some obviously skilled and knowledgeable people. Thank you all. ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ((((ASKER FEEDBACK)))) Tukmyhamster - Great answer, made me smile. And its nice to meet a genealogist who can't claim a king or a president in their tree.” Shirley T - Obviously you know what you’re talking about. I find the subject of genealogy fascinating. Yet, I have never had more than a passing desire to chart a family tree. Mike I - Yes! Great answer, “we are all equal.” Ted Pack - So true, “do it for the fun of it.” Just Be - Interesting indeed! Do you know what I like about you, when you say things like this: “Truth be told, we are all children of the highest & greatest authority & lineage.” If this was an R&S question, I’d give you Best Answer. Maxi - Your knowledge of genealogy aside, your response was like reading an email from a dear friend writing to me in an as-a-mater-of-fact fashion. Thank you, and I hope you will answer many more of my questions. LongToot - I think you do know why it brings you pride and a sense of who you are. Sometimes its easier to see where you’re going when you know where you came from. ((((THANK YOU & GOD BLESS YOU ALL))))

Public Comments

I think that anyone that claims to be able to trace their ancestry back to biblical times is most likely making it up as they go. The further back you go the harder it is to find the necessary documents needed if you want your tree to be accurate. Anyway I've been doing my tree for over ten years and all I've found is laborers, carpenters, and greengrocers so if I find anything else I expect it to be more of the same - I must be the only genealogist who can't claim a king or a president in their tree :) I don't think it matters but the good thing about having someone famous in your tree is that you can usually find out more stuff about them, illiterate laborers don't tend to leave many interesting records.
Well your dinner guest is really hoping for the impossible, not a good verifiable family tree. The documentation is not available. There are trees linking the British royal family to the Royal line of David but they are based on speculation and jumping to a conclusion. Documentation is the meat of genealogy. Most will be lucky in most of their lines to get back to around the 1500s. If they managed to find a gateway ancestor that will lead them to a royal or noble line then they might go back to the mid to late first millennium. You might see family trees like that on some of the genealogy websites but don't take them to seriously. In online family trees you have to be very skeptical of information in them unless you verify them with records. Some websites have a lot of original source records. Ancestry.Com is one of them but you have to distinguish between the records they have obtained and their subscriber submitted family trees. You can make up an entirely fictitious family tree and it will be accepted by any of the websites whether free or fee. You have to understand many states in the U.S. did not keep vital records (birth and death) until the first part of the 20th century. Before then you have to rely on church records and not every religion kept detailed records, wills, land records etc. Probably if everybody could go back far enough they would eventually find they have some royal ancestors. You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents. It doubles up each generation you go back and begins to pyramid big time. A lot of people living today would get back to the time of Charlemagne in 40 generations, some sooner. 40 generations would be your parents, your grandparents and up through your 38xgreat grandparents. If each one of those 38xgreat grandparents were a different person they would total over 1 trillion, 162 billion people. You are no doubt married to one of your cousins. It is just a matter of how many times.
It would not Matter if you were related to Marie the proper spelling of Mary mary is a Human. Jesus was Born of a Virgin mother meaning your Genealogy would end with being related to a Human Not a Divine God Such as Lord God Jesus Christ we are all Connected to Eve The First woman and with that said we are all equal and as far as the queen of England saying she is from the Line of David does Not matter the line of david is a KING line,,, Jesus Christ was Half the line of Aron the levites the priest line and half the King Line meaning The great queen would only be connected to The king line Not the priest line so she is not Connected To Jesus Christ in The way that would give her godly authority so your dinner guest needs to suprees there ego
Hi Ya TAP! Self importance.
I do it for the fun of it; it is like doing the daily crossword puzzle, but the clues are not as well-defined and the right answers don't come out the next day. It makes history come alive, and lets me practice my detective skills. Anyone who thinks they have an accurate tree before 1500 or so - unless it is Prince Charles or the Emperor of Japan - is fooling himself.
Interesting! It is indicative of where the focus of people lie. We are so programmed to find our self worth in the physical, & to a degree in our physical lineage. Yet, the disciples of Jesus were simple men & women who rose to great Spiritual heights. Where we came from physically is not important, what our focus is Spiritually is of great importance. Where I have been & what I have done are not important, nor am I bound to do or Be a certain thing because of that past. What is important is what I chose to do & Be today in this moment. LOL! Truth be told, we are all children of the highest & greatest authority & lineage. There is only one! Many Blessings!
I think your dinner guest possibly drank too much wine that evening.....the records are not there to prove such a family tree. What do people expect to find in their genealogy? I think this is a good question, however people research their trees for many reasons, some just to find if they are related to famous people or Royalty....for that reason I just don't understand the need unless they need to feel they have to boost their confidence in some way...others just want positive 'strokes' from others when they display 'their' family tree on the wall about "how clever they are" to have done such a lot of work....however over the years most family historians I have met have started to trace often after losing a family member close to them or finding out their parents/grandparents are not their biological parents/grandparents, so have a need to know, others because it is facinating and once started it is hard to stop...an obsessive hobby, however a great 'hobby' to teach/learn real research skills ( not name collecting and copying other published unverified trees) You never know what you are going to find, which is possibly the fasination, there are lots of 'skeletons' out there in every family and records to prove it from the Great Great Uncle who ended up in jail for forgery to the great grandfather who never told his second wife's children he had been married before and already had children...so they were totally unaware there whole life and died not knowing they had 5 half brothers and sisters...
I have no expectations. You have no idea what you're going to find. That's what's so exciting about it. I just want to know more about the people who are related to me, that's all. I like to see how we're similar and I like to see how we're different. Like you, I don't care what I find - I just want to know that what I find is accurate. I'd rather know for certain that I was descended from a common shoemaker than never know for sure whether I was descended from Charlemagne or not.
When I was young my grandmother would recite the names of my ancestors and make it seem important to remember. I caught that excitement from her and also gained a sense of birthright that I came from poor farmers. I don't fully understand why that makes me proud or gives me a sense of who I am. Maybe it's pride, but pride in what? My dad was in the service and he loved to tell the war stories. Now I enjoy finding out the stories of the hard times they overcame. I find there are very few people in my family that understand why I do genealogy. When I break out my books, everyone wants to see them. Some look for the famous people, some look for the connections to the American Revolutionary war soldiers because the D.A.R. has great scholarships, some want to know about Native American Heritage, or if we have any rich ancestors, some want to see what our ancestors coats of arms looked like. I guess everyone has their own reason for wanting to know about genealogy and I was the designated genealogist in my family. I only expected to find their name and where they lived and I never expected to find a superstar or a God among them.
People who try to trace back to a famous person, real or imagined, are going about it incorrectly. The ONLY way to trace genealogy is to start with yourself, then your parents, their parents, and so on. Whoever, whatever turns up is fine. I am supposedly descended from Charlemagne, Caesars, etc., but that has absolutely nothing to do with who I am, as a person All I expect to find in my genealogy is who my ancestors were; it is interesting, to say the least. One was burned as a witch (1400s, Germany), one a ship's captain (died at sea), carpenters, miners, farmers, teachers/preachers, judges. I would rather imagine that every one has similar people in their trees; after all, millions of people are descended from the Separtists (wrongly referred to as "Pilgrims"), Charlemagne, etc. I am more proud of my working ancestors than the Royal ones. And, no one, by bloodline, is descended from Christ; I seriously doubt if anyone can trace back to Mary. Aaron, Moses' brother, yes, through DNA.