I have inherited a genealogy dating back to the year 732 . . .?

Question

I have inherited 2 genealogies, one dating back to 732 the other back to the year 849. . . All on my mothers side. How do I go about proving it? At the end of it, it says that it can be vouched for by records, Where do I find those records?

Answer 1

Hey Sharon,

A similar story, my WASHBURN ancestors - There is a set of Books, excellent in the field of Genealogy that validates ties back to the 6th century. I found a mistake at generation 5. So, you really have to be carefull how you tie into a known Genealogy. If the Genealogy you inherited is valid, it should include the records. I can show you THOUSANDS of trees at GENEALOGY.COM that are incorrect and go back that far on many branches. So, take it with a grain of salt!

Then, hook up with other people that believe they are in the same lineage, and Get into a DNA project. Turns out even though the one generation was wrong, the Washburn ties were via another brother, and DNA proved an absolute close relationship to a SURNAME Project line that has the Lineage back to the 6th century. Family Tree DNA has a lot of great surname projects going on.

As far as records go, you have to get them from someone that has them, or look them up. Start with you, tie to your parents, them to their parents, and so on down the line. About generation 7, you will find the magic of the internet and massive research going on - GENFOURM for the SURNAME will produce people researching the same Genealogy. So, there is hope. Plan on this being a life long hobby, and collect your records in a safe place. I scan my records and put them in the GENEALOGY Software. So, when I pass my tree on to someone, it includes the validating records.

You are lucky to have a clue on your Genealogy - Get a software package, and put that information into a Data Base that you can pass on to your descendants, nieces, nephews, kids, etc.

Answer 2

Just a guess, but does one of the trees go back to Charlemagne or Pepin I of France? If so, they're off by 10 years, but the tree is probably pretty verifiable through peerage records in Europe.

I'm also guessing, but does the second tree (849) go back to Alfred the Great? If so, much of it is probably verifiable.

What you would need to do is start with the most recent generation and work backwards through a series of records to prove that each person indeed descends from the person in the previous generation. It's time-consuming, but it can be quite a bit of fun. There are several books on royal and noble lineages that are extremely helpful in something like this. You wouldn't be able to do much of it successfully online because you actually need records that are credible and not tainted by the anonymity of the internet. That would include public records like birth, marriage and death records, probate records (particularly in Europe), Church records (particularly baptisms and deaths pre-1850), military records, published biographies that have gone through reasonable peer review, heraldry records, etc. Eventually you'll get back to royal or noble lineages that are proven and published. Again, please stay away from what's on the internet. That's not a credible source. Especially important when verifying a tree independently is that you stay away from One World Tree, Mormon records (especially pedigree files), and other amateur research. Verified resources are extremely important.

The other word of caution is that you need to watch for leaps in logic. Watch for inconsistent dates, names and places. Watch for "aka" info that isn't verifiable. This is often a sign of records from two different people being combined into one new person for the sake of making a connection to a royal lineage where the evidence is otherwise lacking.

If you want help, I'd be glad to give you more direction as you get into the verification. It will probably take you 6 months to a year, but I'd guarantee you'll have fun doing it and will learn much about your heritage.

Answer 3

There should be clues inside the documents showing where they came from. Is there any need to verify them. Somebody has done all the work and unless there was a valid reason, people don't spend time doing up phoney genealogies. The only valid reason I can think of is to milk money out of your mother to show her that she was related to someone famous. You're lucky to have records that go that far back.

Answer 4

Try some people searches, a lot of trips to libraries, or subscribe to a geneology site. The government should have records dating back to when your family came over.

Answer 5

Without the literal stacks of documents to go with it, I'd consider it suspect. Anything purporting to go back that far can be considered suspect anyway. I'm pretty sure I've read of an 'industry' from oh I dunno the 1920s forward of faking up family trees for the money.

What you could do is do your own and use that as a guide or reference for research -- as far back as it works.

Answer 6

i think your inheritance is awesome! I'm really curious what sort of ancestory you have.

i think you should post it on the net, in your own blog and please be sure to submit it to familysearch.org for posterity.

and the queen on england most certainly can trace her ancestry back that far.

Answer 7

Would be impossible to prove or disprove.For example the queen of England can't take her lineage back that far.