Genealogy in Relation to Family Trees
Editor’s Note: Joe’s sensitivity to privacy seemed a good place to begin asking about the research processes he has followed over the years, processes that surely changed as the technology did. To start, I asked Joe what his understanding of the word “genealogy” is — a simple term, or a potentially complicated one? Joe explains that in common usage most people take it to mean the study or research of a family tree. There are also more scientific meanings, tied to tracing descent from an ancestor and to genes, DNA and how traits evolve over time. Joe, however, uses the word in its general sense.
Transcript
Speakers: WJB — William J. Bowe; JH — Joseph Hart. Transcribed from the recording; punctuation added and obvious mis-hearings corrected.
WJB: Well, that sensitivity to privacy in your research, maybe that’s a good place to begin to inquire about the processes that you pursued, and I’m sure they changed over the years as the technology changed. But maybe to get us started on that, can you tell me what your understanding is of genealogy? Is it pretty simple, or is it potentially a more complicated term?
JH: As far as a term, I think common usage for that word genealogy, for most people, they understand it to mean the study or research for family tree. There are some scientific meanings that are a little bit more specific to tracing the descent from an ancestor, and sometimes it’s connected with probably genes and DNA and tracing traits over time as they evolve. And so that’s probably the more scientific definition behind that term.
WJB: All right.
JH: But I use it in the general sense.
WJB: Okay.
