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Position:Home>Genealogy> I asked a question earlier about a family tree for my sons school project, but w


Question:I mentioned earlier that I found out I was adopted like 3 yrs ago (about age 36) and everyone responded if the family tree was for a child that I should use the adopted family that he knows & grew up w/, but what if I was making it for myself then? Would it be an "incorrect" family tree to use the adopted family because if they were all Irish, but my birth family was German, then I'm not Irish. Is a family tree to find out about your heritage of ancestors?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I mentioned earlier that I found out I was adopted like 3 yrs ago (about age 36) and everyone responded if the family tree was for a child that I should use the adopted family that he knows & grew up w/, but what if I was making it for myself then? Would it be an "incorrect" family tree to use the adopted family because if they were all Irish, but my birth family was German, then I'm not Irish. Is a family tree to find out about your heritage of ancestors?

You know, at the purest definition, genealogy is technically a blood line effort. But in reality, it is actually a history. And like any history, it is always full of things taken on faith, best guesses, other people's best guesses or written (factual or no) documents.

One thing to consider when envisioning genealogy as strictly bloodline. There is one fundamental item of genealogy that by definition is always a matter of faith...that is paternity. There is no way to know with 100% certainty that ANY person identified as a father was in fact the father. No way. It is truely what the mother often declared. But maybe she isn't even sure who the father is (there could be multiple candidates), or identified a specific man for some personal reason. Or maybe it actually is the father. We just take it on faith, until we maybe have some information that would cause us to question that faith, that it is correct.

So it really is a history, and any experienced genealogist KNOWS that any family tree of significance is full of possiblies, assumptions, best guesses. But we plug along developing a HISTORY.

If you had done a genealogy on your family 10 years ago, even having now found out you were adopted, you have a beautiful historical treatise on your mom and dad's family. Maybe not your mother and father's, but certainly your mom and dad's. We certainly have some biological components that make us who we are. But many would argue (myself included) that what made us who we are more than any biologics is mom and dad and our family. In some cases, mom and dad are our mother and father, but it is mom and dad who made us who we are arguably in stronger ways that the biological contributions of our mother and father.

But it is a history, and the joy in genealogical research is discovering that history. Not the names, names once you get past anyone you have known in your life are really just names. But it is the stories, the culture, the way of life, what they faced, all of the great details that you never get in academic history classes that is the beauty. I've been doing this for 22 years. And I've gotten just as much joy doing work for unrelated people as I have on my own genealogy. If I told you your 7th great grandfather was Hiram Jacobs, born 1730 in Baltimore, MD, died 1780 in Richmond, VA, well whoopee. It would really be no different that if you were tracing your mom and dad's line and were told the exact same thing. It is a historical person. But what about Hiram? Was he a farmer, did he fight in the revolution, what is the historical context of his life. That is the joy.

The genealogy of your mom and dad is just as much a part of you (maybe more) than the genealogy of your mother and father. And just as important, and enjoyable to pursue.

It is to trace your bloodline. So finding your birth parents is the idea

Actual genealogy/famliy tree research is to trace your family, by blood lines.

however, it would probably be interesting to research your adopted family also, if u had time.

A family tree is bloodline
A genogram is your family which includes relatives by marriage, divorce, adoption, or whatever...it doesn't require a specific bloodline. Genograms are usually used to determine patterns within families, such as divorce, substance abuse, conflict, etc.

I think u are wanting to do a GENO-GRAM...
where u could list ur bio-parents.... then ur adopted parents.. it is about who was married to who?.. ad ur cousins..? etc..

the Family tree is about ur blood line.. and the history of ur parents.. and bio-g'parents.. ?
Be sure to start big.. cuz u need lots of room to write and make notes.. along the way..

U can add pages when u out grow the paper by taping paper to the back of it.. ( at the edge) and keep going.. it will expand across the table and down on to the floor.. just keep taping paper so u can write.. ..

Your question is the single biggest cause for debate in Genealogy. If you search the resolved questions in this category for "Adopted" you will find reams of arguments for and against.

Genealogy is the study of genes. It is a harmless hobby with thousands of participants. Stamp collectors don't put interesting coins in their albums, birdwatchers don't put mammals in their life lists and true genealogists don't put adopted parents in family trees. It would be like playing golf with a pool queue instead of a putter.

If you go to a friend's house for dinner, he needs 20 more minutes to simmer the chicken with rosemary and decant the 10-year old Zinfandel (red zin; real men serve red wine with chicken) and you notice a half-finished jig-saw puzzle on a card-table in the corner of the living room, you might fit a piece or two in.

By the same token, feel free to "Do" your real parents' lines, if you are so inclined. (Your real parents are the ones who cooked your meals, washed your clothes, took you to school, held you while you cried and wept gently as the principal called your name in the honors assembly, not the couple who coupled). Don't put yourself in as a biological child; put a note that John and Mary had room in their hearts and homes for an extra child, and you thank the Lord each day that they chose you.

(If they beat you unmercifully and made you do 4 hours of chores before you could eat supper, lie. Give her 8 children by 8 different men, all with occupation "Sailor", and publish your work as widely as you can. Just because genealogists are polite doesn't mean we don't have teeth.)