Tapping Your Roots

These days, when Ryan Woods is asked about his family, there’s a short answer and a long one. Earlier this year, Woods (SED’01,’05) became the director of education for the Boston-based New England Historic Genealogical Society and started tracking down his own ancestors. So far, he’s found family members dating back to the early days of the Massachusetts colony, a Civil War soldier, and the cousin of a president.

“Since I began researching I have added approximately 400 ancestors to my family tree,” says Woods, “although I have documented only about 80 of them.”

This evening, he and other representatives of NEHGS will teach others how to take a similar journey into their family history during a free workshop on the basics of genealogical research, called Tracing Your Roots, at the Howard Thurman Center.

Woods and his colleagues will introduce attendees to the vital record and historical data sets held by the NEHGS, including more than 12 million books, manuscripts, records, and other artifacts.

“While the strength of our collection is in American, English, Irish, Scottish, and Canadian records,” says Woods, “we have more than a dozen professional genealogists who have significant experience and knowledge of German, Italian, French, African-American, Caribbean, Native American, Jewish, and Latin-American records.”

Tonight’s workshop at the Howard Thurman Center, 775 Commonwealth Ave., runs from 6 to 8 p.m. and is open to the general public. Woods spoke to BU Today about the basics of genealogy research and the surprising discoveries it can yield.

BU Today: What drives people to do genealogy research?
Woods: People are attracted to genealogy for a variety of reasons. Generally speaking, however, I think you would find the people with whom NEHGS works have one of two motivations for their research: personal family history and academic study.

At its core, genealogical research is about grasping for understanding of the complexities of kinship. For most, genealogy helps to develop an appreciation for how we, and our families, fit into the social context of human history. It can begin to answer questions about where our names come from and why our families live in certain places or even provide clues as to why we have particular inclinations. That is not to say that our ancestry defines who we are, but genealogy can certainly be an exercise in self-exploration.

For academics, genealogy has important applications in the examination of social history. By studying families, one begins to gain insights into larger trends such as migrations, wealth distribution, political power-sharing, occupational developments, religious movements, and civic expansion. Attitudes about marriage, child-rearing, schooling, and race relations can all be gleaned from family histories as well.

What are some of the basic techniques you’ll teach at the workshop?
We’ll offer a presentation that we have developed called Getting Started in Genealogy. We’ll provide tips about which repositories or Web sites to begin looking at for vital record information, demonstrate how to organize a pedigree chart, teach commonly found abbreviations and terminology, and show the methodology for documenting discoveries.

Have you researched your own genealogy?
Since joining the NEHGS staff earlier this year, I have started researching my own genealogy, and it has been a fascinating journey. At this point, I have documented my direct Woods ancestors back 12 generations to a Samuel Woods, born in 1636 in what is now upper Middlesex County, Mass. Being that Samuel was born only seven years after the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, his parents were obviously very early settlers. As there were only a few established settlements at the time, finding records from their generation is a bit trickier, but my next goal is to find out more about Samuel’s forebears.

The records that I have been able to find have been truly remarkable. For example, I have seen an agreement signed by my direct ancestor to recharter the town of Groton, Mass., after it was burned to the ground in 1676 during King Philip’s War, as well as read journal accounts of fleeing to Concord, Mass., after the town had been attacked. I have copied birth, death, and marriage records for 12 generations of ancestors, including a treasure trove of other documents that include my four-time-great-grandfather’s enlistment papers from joining the 8th Infantry Regiment of Vermont during the Civil War. I have studied an account book and ticket register of another four-time-great-grandfather who was a station agent at a Vermont railroad stop on a set of tracks running from Boston to Montreal in the 1880s. I have even discovered a great-great-grandmother who was a cousin of President Grover Cleveland.

What’s the first thing you tell people when they express interest in finding out more about their ancestors?
Welcome to a lifelong endeavor! One of the first things to understand about genealogy is that it is an ongoing pursuit to which there is no definitive end, but it is great fun and among the most educational activities one can engage in.

How is the bulk of genealogy research conducted?
Typically, researchers use libraries, Internet databases, repositories, DNA testing, and manuscript collections. Using combinations of these record sources is the best way to document and verify family histories. Many beginning genealogists start with the Internet, where there are a number of free and subscription-based Web sites, offering access to millions of records. But once someone has moved beyond his or her grandparents, the bulk of work really leads to brick-and-mortar libraries like NEHGS.

One of the basic tenets of genealogy is to work from the known to the unknown. It is part of a genealogist’s creed to verify information through multiple document sources. Only when there is an overwhelming preponderance of supporting evidence to show a kin relation will a genealogist connect an ancestral dot that cannot be verified directly. The farther back in time one works, there is a decreasing abundance of vital records, so supporting evidence, such as wills and land records, becomes increasingly important.

Do you offer advice for people who may find things in their family’s past that they didn’t want to know?
Everyone is bound to find information in their ancestral past that may be unpleasant, from forebears with nefarious histories to illegitimate births. It is important to remember that our ancestors do not define who we are, nor should our discovery of unpleasant information about them. The acts of individual ancestors are merely single lines in a saga that, for most us, extends over many continents and centuries, encompassing thousands and thousands of people.

What do you hope this workshop will accomplish?
First, we want to demonstrate through tips and techniques that regardless of one’s background or heritage, genealogy can be tremendously exciting and rewarding work. Second, we hope to engage a new, younger audience in an activity that is fun and an extremely powerful exercise in the exploration of people, history, and culture.

Chris Berdik can be reached at cberdik@bu.edu.