| My great-grandparents would marvel at how easily | | | | they were related to the recently deceased owner |
| genealogy research can be done today with the click | | | | of said property or title. |
| of a mouse! Information that used to take years of | | | | The 1900's |
| research to discover now is found so quickly. In days | | | | My Aunt Ruth use to take me on family history |
| gone by information was verbally passed down from | | | | research trips with her in the mid 1960s. In those |
| generation to generation relying solely on memory. | | | | days it was not possible to do any type of |
| When keeping records through writing evolved, | | | | substantial genealogy research unless you traveled |
| myths were some of the first things recorded and | | | | physically to the place that your ancestors had lived |
| stored on these written documents. Ancient | | | | and died. Their lives were traced through dusty, |
| ancestors believed they were children of gods and | | | | faded and quite often illegibly scribbled notes on |
| their family history was born out of a myth. The | | | | yellowed, brittle pages in the halls of public records in |
| earliest genealogy research records are myths. | | | | the town that you thought your ancestors may have |
| Genealogy Research and The Bible | | | | once lived in as you searched for any trace of them |
| One of the more famous bits of genealogy research | | | | and their lives. |
| perhaps is written in the Bible. "So and So begat So | | | | In the past two of the very best resources of |
| and So who lived to be 480 and begat So and So...." | | | | genealogy research were cemeteries and family |
| The famous passages from Genesis and the Gospel | | | | Bibles. Our ancestors would record all the important |
| are often referred to as "The Begats." The Bible is | | | | family information in the blank pages of their family |
| often looked at as the genealogy research record of | | | | Bible and pass this book down through the |
| Jesus. Nearly all the Old Testament characters are | | | | generations. Family Bibles are gems to genealogists as |
| somehow related to Jesus. | | | | they were recorded by the very people they're |
| In wondering why our ancient ancestors bothered | | | | researching. |
| with keeping genealogies it more than likely was due | | | | The next best resource was a cemetery headstone. |
| to squabbles over inheritances In the times when the | | | | It was common genealogy research practice to hold |
| King James Bible was comprised (1611) this would | | | | a piece of paper over the headstone and rub it with |
| have especially been an issue of contention while | | | | a pencil to more easily read the information and take |
| countries were under divine right monarchies. In these | | | | it back home where it could be added to the other |
| times people who hoped to have a chance at all of | | | | bits of manually gathered research data. |
| owning property or holding a title needed to prove | | | | |