Genealogical Research

What is Genealogy?

Genealogy is the technical term for family history research. In everyday language, it is often referred to as ancestry research or family research. The latter term can be misleading, as “family research” is also a branch of ethnology that studies the development of family structures over time (e.g., age at marriage, naming customs), focusing on general patterns rather than individual families.

Genealogy, as an auxiliary science of history, focuses on a specific family and its members. At its core is the documentation of a person's descent from another (known as filiation).

Research in this field has both personal and factual aspects:

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Personal Aspects

Regarding the individuals involved, each line of descent is just one of many. Family relations form an endless network that began in the distant past and will never end: parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings, cousins.

It is therefore important to define the scope of your research—whether focusing on a specific line, a region, a certain number of generations, or a particular topic. Many clients are primarily interested in the surname line, while others prefer a broader family tree. Sometimes, research is limited by the availability of sources. Additionally, when commissioning a genealogist, financial considerations play a role. It is therefore advisable to clarify in advance how far and in which direction the research should proceed.

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Factual Aspects

From a factual perspective, genealogy centers on documenting descent using core genealogical data. This data is essential for proving family connections and includes names, given names, dates of birth, marriage, and death. For periods when births and deaths were not recorded, baptism and burial records from church registers are used instead.

Additional information can be gathered to create a fuller picture of an individual, such as places of residence, religion, occupation, public offices held, images, and more. Research can also extend to further details like property ownership, illnesses, causes of death, hobbies, pets, tax records, contracts, or criminal records.

Such research gradually transitions from pure genealogy to biographical research. Yet, it is precisely this additional information that brings “flesh to the bones” of what would otherwise be a dry set of data. The further the research goes, the more time-consuming it becomes, and the availability of sources becomes patchier. While core genealogical data is generally well documented in our regions, special additional information often only exists for individuals who owned property or were involved in legal matters. Therefore, despite extensive research efforts, it is possible that a specific individual may not appear in certain sources.

In our work, alongside international archives and online databases, we also draw on our extensive genealogical library, which includes the collected works of several genealogists.

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Definition of “Family”

An important consideration at the outset of any research is the definition of “descent”: biological or legal? An adopted child is legally descended from the adoptive parents but biologically from the birth parents. There is no universally correct choice between the two perspectives, but it is important to be clear about what is being researched.

For biological descent, DNA tests can be used; however, these typically provide only a general picture of ethnic origins rather than identifying individual ancestors. Historical genealogy, on the other hand, can only document what is recorded in historical sources. If an incorrect father was recorded in historical documents, this will also be reflected in the research results. Both approaches have their advantages and limitations.

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research directions

Ancestry Research

For those interested in their heritage and in learning more about their ancestors, ancestry research is the appropriate approach.

Ascendants or ancestors are a person's direct forebears: two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents, and so on. With each generation, the number of ancestors doubles, growing according to the mathematical principle of powers of two.

If you go back far enough, the theoretical number of ancestors exceeds the actual population at that time. This means that in earlier generations, the same individuals must appear multiple times as ancestors—a perfectly normal phenomenon that has nothing to do with inbreeding, as these individuals were typically only very distantly related. This phenomenon is known as pedigree collapse.

The person from whom ancestry research begins is called the proband. Those conducting research for themselves will typically start with themselves or their children. Research is also often conducted on the ancestry of notable figures, and professional genealogists, such as the team at Aicher, Nobs und Partner GmbH, regularly investigate the family histories of their clients.

As the number of ancestors doubles with each generation, research can quickly become extensive. Many researchers therefore focus on specific lines, such as the surname line (usually the male line) or the maternal line.

The results of ancestry research can be presented in a list of ancestors or visually in a pedigree chart, which can be either simple or artistically designed.

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Descendant Research

Those who are more interested in discovering collateral relatives or all bearers of a (rare) family name often choose descendant research.

Descendants are the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on of a proband. While ancestry research usually begins with a living person, descendant research typically focuses on a historical figure.

Unlike the number of ancestors, which doubles with each generation, there is no consistent pattern in the number of descendants. Therefore, it is never clear in advance how complete the research will be or whether there were unknown children. While ancestry research can, in theory, continue indefinitely (since every person has parents), descendant research ends when there are no further descendants.

Researching the descendants of historical figures, such as Charlemagne or Saint Nicholas of Flüe, is a popular undertaking. For personal family research, individuals often choose a historical ancestor of particular interest as the proband.

Here too, researchers often set specific limits, for example by focusing on descendants who carried on the family name or on those who descended only through male lines. In such cases, the research is no longer referred to as descendant research but as lineage research.

The results of descendant research can be presented in a descendant list or visually in a descendant chart. If such a chart is created exclusively for the male line and is artistically designed, it is often referred to as a family tree.

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Mixed Approaches

Ancestry and descendant research can, of course, be combined in various ways. For example, you can research all ancestors up to the 16 great-great-grandparents and then investigate the descendants of each of these ancestors as new probands. This creates a complex network of family relationships that can be challenging to present graphically. Attempts to visualize such networks are referred to as kinship charts or clan charts.

In ancestry research, a fuller picture often emerges when not only the child who continues the direct line to the proband is recorded, but also all siblings. This can sometimes be necessary to clearly establish filiation. We therefore explicitly recommend including the siblings of ancestors in your research.
 

Special Forms

IA wide range of special research approaches is also possible. The best way forward is to contact our team directly and describe your research interests. We will be happy to advise you and show you which research directions are suitable for your specific case.