The set of parents and ancestors of an individual or animal is called genealogy.
From the Latin genealogĭa , genealogy is the set of ancestors and parents of a person or a breed animal . The concept is used to also name the writing that contains this set or part of it, the document in which the ancestry of a breed animal is recorded and the discipline that studies genealogy.
For example: “The singer's genealogy includes German, Swiss and Slovenian ancestry” , “I don't care about people's genealogy, I'm only interested in what each individual is like” , “They ask too much money for that horse: we're going to have to study its genealogy carefully .
In colloquial language, genealogy is the origin or precedents of something : “The genealogy of this album goes back to the first meetings between the singer and the guitarist in the Andean mountains.”
Documents and narratives of genealogy
The document that records genealogy studies is known as a family tree . The figure of the tree has an analogy with the trunk that branches and the person who has various lines of ancestry and descent .
Genealogy can be known through oral stories that usually arise from the family nucleus. These narratives are transmitted from generation to generation and may be inaccurate regarding dates of birth and places of origin, although they are usually the starting point for more precise studies.
Geneaology often uses a tree to represent relationships.
Different sources
It is also important to take into account personal or family documents to establish that family tree, such as family books, notebooks, IDs, property titles...
Another documentary source for genealogy is printed or handwritten documents . Unlike family memory, these records provide accuracy in the information . Civil identification records , ecclesiastical documents and State archives allow us to know the genealogy of people.
Civil documentation is very important in this sense when it comes to being able to find the genealogy. In this case, the most common thing is to go to birth certificates, marriage certificates or death certificates.
However, it should not be overlooked that it is also normal to resort to researching ecclesiastical records to obtain the information needed. In this case, everything from marriage certificates to baptism certificates, including those referring to deaths, are usually requested.
Those who are interested in finding their genealogy, in addition to making use of documents or family statements, can also turn to the Internet. And on the Internet there are currently a multitude of pages and platforms specialized in this area.
Genealogy and heraldry
It must be said that there is also a science that is closely related to genealogy. We are referring to heraldry, which is the science that is responsible for carrying out the creation of the shields and coats of arms that belonged to families. Through it it is possible to determine their appearance and understand the reason for the symbols they used or the meaning they had.
In this sense, it should be noted that it is common for those who carry out the search and establishment of their family tree, once they achieve it, to also commit to investigating, through heraldry, the coat of arms that identifies their family based on their ancestors.