Genealogy is the study of a family’s lineage. People might use genealogy to trace out their family trees, or simply to find a specific person in a family’s past and connect him or her to other members of that family. Genealogy is interested solely in who is in a family and who they are related to, as opposed to the more general study of family history, which might also track dates of birth and death, occupations held by family members, and other important facts about their lives and deaths. While some people, on occasion, refer to this larger field as genealogy, genealogy is better viewed as a subset of a greater discipline. Historically, genealogy was a very important field, because family connections between nobility were crucial to the idea of inheritance and the passing down of titles and rulership. In many societies, for example, if a king had no direct heir, the next closest heir would have to be found.
Abstract: This paper offers a theory of genealogy, explaining its rise in the nineteenth century, its epistemic commitments, its nature as critique, and its place in the work of Nietzsche and Foucault. The crux of the theory is recognition of genealogy as an expression of a radical historicism, rejecting both appeals to transcendental truths and principles of unity or progress in history, and embracing nominalism, contingency, and contestability. In this view, genealogies are committed to the truth of radical historicism and, perhaps more provisionally, the truth of their own empirical content. Similarly, genealogies operate as denaturalizing critiques of ideas and practices that hide the contingency of human life behind formal ahistorical or developmental perspectives.
Genealogy is the study of your family roots. Through genealogy, you can search through written historical records that document major life events, such as births and marriages, to help find members of your family tree. Some written records might be incomplete, or may have become lost or destroyed over time, making it difficult for you to create a complete genealogical record detailing your family tree. The latest tool in genealogy combines the research of written records with the latest advances of science in using a person’s DNA, this is called molecular genealogy (or genetic genealogy). By examining your DNA, GeneTree can create a path into your family’s past to help identify your unique genealogical connections with your ancestors. To learn more about how GeneTree uses your DNA to trace your ancestors, or order your own DNA test, click here.
Genealogy is the science or study of family descent. Many people are interested in family history research and Vital Statistics records are an important source of information for the family historian. For geneological research purposes the Agency issues a unique certified registration copy, which makes available all the information recorded on the original event record. The Vital Statistics Agency has records of birth, marriage, and death occurring in British Columbia since 1872. These records are available to qualified applicants and the disclosure of this information is in compliance with the Vital Statistics Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Vital Statistics will release birth registrations containing a notation of adoption and adoption records only to birth parents and adopted persons.