By Amy ChengFriday 12 Aug 2022RelationshipsReading Time: 5 minutes
A better understanding of our family history can give us a sense of identity, a genealogist has said.
This month is National Family History Month, an initiative of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) to encourage Australians to delve into their family history.
CEO of the Society of Australian Genealogist Ruth Graham believes it’s important to research family history because people often don’t know about their family background.
“It’s a bit of a cliche, but it’s good to know where you come from to know where you’re going,” she told Hope 103.2.
“For all of us, (it’s important) to have a bit of a recognition of why we’re in the situation we are in… (and to) understand some of the struggles and hardships that our forebears went through.
“It give us a sense of identity and what people have done before us so that we can go forth into the world.”
“It’s a bit of a cliche, but it’s good to know where you come from to know where you’re going,” – Ruth Graham, CEO of Society of Australian Genealogist
Where to start
A good starting point is getting firsthand knowledge from those around you, Ms Graham said.
“It’s good to start with who’s around you, whether that’s siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, extended family,” she said.
“Ask them what they know or what information they have, whether they’ve got documentation… spend some time with them and try to work out what they know.”
Helpful documents can include certificates such as birth, death or marriage certificates, passports or family photos.
“(Ask them about) the mysterious person at the back of the photograph,” Ms Graham said.
“Go in with your eyes open but be prepared to find out almost anything and there is an exciting story in every family,” – Ruth Graham, CEO of Society of Australian Genealogist
What to look for
People should think about unknowns when conducting their research, Ms Graham said.
“Most of us from Australia are from people who’ve moved around… try to think about what we know about the history of the movement of our ancestors,” she said.
“Are we sure about those facts about where they went and why they had to move around?”
Family trees often go hand-in-hand with family histories, but they are only one aspect of it.
“It kind of depends on your family situation; we do find a lot of people who have very huge gaps in their family tree,” Ms Graham said.
“Many people might come from a single parent family and there might not have been a father on the birth certificate, so it’s a very obvious things to solve.
“A lot of others, they want to really understand maybe the socio-economic circumstances of their family and want to find out the details of where they lived.”
“It’s good to start with who’s around you, whether that’s siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, extended family,” – Ruth Graham, CEO of Society of Australian Genealogist
Unusual discoveries
Sometimes, unusual discoveries can be made, such as coming across a profession that doesn’t exist anymore.
Unusual discoveries can be made like bygone professions.
However, some discoveries may cause distress, such as learning that an ancestor was a convict or significant criminal or even that a relative wasn’t really part of your family.
“You might find that actually the person you thought was your great grandfather wasn’t really your great grandfather,” Ms Graham said.
“You’ve got to keep an open mind about what you might find, but then also to say we’re not responsible for other people’s behaviour.”
The Society provides information about support services in their presentations to members, including Lifeline and Beyond Blue.
As for being descended from royalty, Ms Graham thinks we’re probably all descended from royalty, but believes there are several reasons why royal blood often comes up in searches.
“In times gone past, the population was a lot smaller, but also there were a lot more records for the rich than the poor.”
“You’ve got to keep an open mind about what you might find, but then also to say we’re not responsible for other people’s behaviour,” – Ruth Graham, CEO of Society of Australian Genealogist
Challenges
Common names can make things difficult, according to Ms Graham.
“When we go back in time, you may look at a small village where your family comes from and every second person seems to have the same name, so you’re trying to work out which is your one.”
There are several ways to overcome this, but it takes a lot of diligence when reviewing records.
“Look at how to review those matches and look at how you match up with different people and then build a family tree backwards,” Ms Graham said.
“Do you have a common ancestor with someone who you’ve never heard of, say, in America?
“Usually in combination with what we’d call traditional records or traditional research, we’re looking at the paperwork of births, deaths and marriages, or other kinds of records, to verify who’s in our family tree.”
A DNA test can also be conducted, but this will depend on whether family members have also had a test and uploaded their results to the same website.
“I always recommend, particularly when you’re talking to relatives, to have a user recording app on your phone,” – Ruth Graham, CEO of Society of Australian Genealogist
Keeping a record
A handy notebook is a good starting point for recording family history, but the hobby is becoming more and more high tech, Ms Graham said.
“I always recommend, particularly when you’re talking to relatives, to have a user recording app on your phone,” she said.
“Try and record the conversation, so you can both keep that for posterity and for accuracy.”
There are also numerous websites that allow users to build family trees that can be shared around the world.
Ruth’s journey
Ms Graham is the daughter of a migrant and her mother was a “Ten Pound Pom” in the 1960s.
Through researching her family history, she found people from her Irish side that even her mother didn’t know about, however, her research is ongoing.
“It is never ending, it’s a hobby that keeps on giving, you’ll never finish because we have an exponential number of ancestors to explore,” she said.
“We can find excitement every time, I can assure you; there was always those kind of gasp moments when you think ‘oh, wow, that really happened’.
“Go in with your eyes open but be prepared to find out almost anything and there is an exciting story in every family.”