What is Genealogy about?

Question:what does it really mean?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: what does it really mean?

No idea. But I've heard of it
I think that its about tracing back your genes or something.

Your family tree where you came from what part of the world were your ancestor's thier histories what who married who and what children were born and who you are.

The study of your "genes". Or more correctly, your family history (ancestry).

The keyword is ancestry. The word is derived from two Greek words that stand for family and knowledge. Genealogy is thus the study and tracing of family roots. It implies the collection of the names of relatives, both living and deceased, and establishing the relationships among them. You are a son of your mom and dad...who was your paternal grandfather....who were your grand father's parents....who were your great grand father's father's parents ...and so on. You do the same on your maternal part of your family. Thus, you trace your roots as to who begot who...till it comes down to you. A good example of genealogy is found in Mathew 1 which traces Christ's genealogy beginning from Abraham and; in Luke Chapter three which chronicles Christ's lineage from Christ to Adam and ofcourse, to God.

It's to do with your lineage, that is, your forebears. The people who went before you, your ancestors. The people from whom you inherited your GENES, hence genealogy. The study of those genes. Geddit?

your family tree,history and where your ancestors came from

To me Genealogy is about tracing back where I came from and to track down long lost distant family, I stayed with distant cousins in Australia this summer, it was wonderful experience,

It answers the basic question: "Who's your Daddy?" (and Mommy...
Then it answers the question of who is their daddy and mommy, and theirs and theirs, as far back as you can trace them.
If you are even modestly successful, you will find out what countries your ancestors came from; there is a good chance you will find out what their occupations were; there is a good chance you will find some one of royal blood.
Start by asking your living relatives their names, dates and places of birth/marriage/etc. Take good notes. Write down your source (who or what provided the information).
Anyhew, as to searching, try these:
Free sites: there are several to choose from. Start with:
http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

Assuming they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites:
http://www.ellisisland.org
http://www.castlegarden.org

For Scotland, check:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

For ship’s passenger lists, try:
http://www.immigrantships.net/
www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm
www.geocities.com/Heartland/5978/Emigr...
www.immigrantstips.net/
www.searchforancestors.com/passengerli...
www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration...

For those with native American ancestry, try:
http://www.tribalpages.com/
http://www.cherokee-nc.com/geneology.php...

For a fee, try a DNA test:
When you really want to know where your ancestors came from, try such sites as: www.familytreedna.com, dnatribes.com, dnaancestryproject.com, and, of course, the National Geographics Genotype program, https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno...
For Jewish ancestry, try:
www.israelgenealogy.com

For people from India, try:
http://www.fibis.org/

Have a look at these sites these are South African ones,
http://genealogy.about.com/od/south_afri...
http://www.rupert.net/~lkool/page2.html....
http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/website...
http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpre...

Meaning of names:
http://www.winslowtree.com/surname-meani...

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f...

Here are some general sites with lists of African names:
http://www.swagga.com/fname.htm
http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/afr.php
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/ba...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/...

Military:
www.military.com
http://www.familymilitaryrecords.com/

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/militar...

http://websearch.about.com/od/peoplesear...

http://genealogy.about.com/b/2007/05/24/...

http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/sea...

Finding live people:
Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com

Don't forget, use your local library. Ours (a small one, yet) has www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, as well as periodicals, books and guidance from an experienced genealogist.

Keep good notes on where you find what: sources are very important.

Good luck!

Your lineage, your ancestors. Where they came from and how they are all connected. Tracing your family history is a fascinating hobby.