BARKING UP THE WRONG FAMILY TREE

Traditional genealogy asserts that you start with the latest record, usually yourself, and work backwards through time. This is a time-honored tradition -- very efficient and practical because it ignores all other relatives -- but too many us lose interest when we hit the inevitable missing links or bark up the wrong family tree altogether. Why end your lineage in the 1800s just because you cannot find anyone earlier with the same name?

Big picture genealogy accepts the fact that our ancestors used many surnames -- most of which bear little resemblance to the one we use today -- and believes that everyone should be able to trace their ancestry, and all of their relatives, back to the earliest records.

Big picture genealogy starts with the earliest published records of family names and works forwards through time, allowing you to see links that you would otherwise miss.

You need to research all names that look or sound like yours -- see Creative Name Changes for Dewick.

In big picture genealogy, marriage records are vitally important because very often someone is registered at birth with one name and registered at marriage with another name simply because two parish clerks were involved and wrote the name as they saw fit. It is mainly through marriage records that missing links are found.

Starting with the earliest published records of family names is not as daunting as one would think. For one thing, you can skip over the astronomical number of records after 1800. It is mostly in the 1700s that missing links occur because of the many political and religious upheavals at that time. When you are dealing with records from the 1500s and 1600s you are left with a manageable number of possible ancestors from which father and son relationships can be easily guessed if not verified.

The most useful online resources for big picture genealogy include Ancestor and Family Search.

When you start with a manageable number of your earliest possible ancestors -- no matter how remote from yours their names may be -- you can then add to this list later generations, bit by bit, until you end up with your immediate ancestors. This way, there is absolutely no possibility that you will be barking up the wrong family tree. Obviously, someone bearing a name similar to yours has to be an ancestor.

Big picture genealogy is fascinating because it takes you back to the beginning of written records to a time when people were living in incredibly different times and conditions, and gives you a personal perspective on how intricately related we all are.

When you're satisfied with the big picture, you can then follow traditional genealogy by narrowing your research to your immediate ancestors -- checking every individual birth, marriage, death and census record in order to be absolutely sure that the person you are dealing with is the person you think he or she is.

And, if you're the type person who wants more than just names and dates, check out war service records, workhouse stays, criminal records and immigration records to discover the intimate details of your ancestors' lives.