Family History's Past

I have always been interested in history but my obsession with genealogy and searching my family's history came later. Along the way I have often wondered why genealogy was viewed as history's poor relative, you know, the one that sits at the table but rarely raises their voice, lest they be ousted from the table and forever loose their place.

So, I had to find out why. Just why were history and genealogy, two studies that appeared to go hand in glove, viewed so differently especially in the academic world? According to Francois Weil, in his book about the history of genealogy in America, in the late 19th century, the paths of history and genealogy separated with history taking the high road to academia and professional standards while genealogy took the low road to commercialization.

Professional researchers would undertake the task of doing the research for a client. If, in the interests of making the client happy, they appropriated a more interesting family line with the same surname, there was no one to call them on it and they would end up with a happy client. Happy clients were more likely to spread word their wonderful researcher who got such great results. And so, it went. As time went on the aims of genealogy became clearer. The aim, at least in America and Britain, was to find the client an Anglo-Saxon lineage with ties to the British peerage. The peerage books published during the time had good information but some suspect information could creep in to prove a client family link.

During this same time period, there were also excellent researchers who did good work, but they were not in the majority. Genealogy was still tainted with wishful genealogies for the early decades of the 20th century. During this time there were some researchers who sought the truth and their numbers started to increase as attitudes changed as people weathered the years of wars, Nazism and civil rights.

Genealogy became respectable as standards were set and institutions such as the LDS church and the Society of Genealogists opened their doors to the general research public. In England, genealogists lobbied the government for better access to records, and it grudgingly complied. The serious-minded family historian was gaining ground. Not that commercialism ever left the field. Nowadays it is found in the large genealogy databases such as Ancestry, FindMyPast and My Heritage. Not only that, but genealogy tourism is big business. But, along side those ventures, there is also the ability to study genealogy in university on both sides of the Atlantic proving that family history is also worthy of academic study. And now a days too, some books about history actually do include genealogical information and no one bats an eye.

Sources:

Sharpe, Michael. Family Matters: A History of Genealogy. Pen and Sword Books, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, 2011.

Weil, François. Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013.