Is Genealogy really a Worldwide Popular Activity?

It has been a while since I addressed this topic. I usually get started writing about the popularity of genealogy when I see a reference to family history being one of the top pastimes or hobbies in the United States, but in this case, my motivation for addressing the issue once again arises from the promotions coming from the large online family history and DNA oriented companies. I am not denigrating genealogy in any way, I just think that the subject of doing genealogical research needs to be upgraded from a pastime to a serious pursuit on the same level as any other academic study such as engineering, linguistics, or medieval studies. Genealogy got a bad rap when kings and other self-important people started trying to justify their positions through descendancy. Obviously, this has been going on almost since the world began. Every ruler wants to support his or her rule by showing that they are somehow more entitled to be a ruler than the rest of us. Likewise, the proliferation of all sorts of societies whose membership is based on the identity of the members' ancestors and try to show that belonging to their organization grants some sort of increased status in the world. These organizations do preserve some historical documents, but membership is limited to "proving" a particular ancestry.

The wave of DNA testing is following some of the same patterns started by the descendancy organizations by identifying your "ethnicity" and making a big deal out of what percentage you are of different countries or areas' population while currently only marginally supporting any real genealogical research.

Presently, how do we know if someone has any qualifications to be a genealogical researcher? There are two major organizations that have qualifications for membership and grant their members the right to use "professional" letter designations but very few of the people that I regularly work with have bothered to obtain any of those letter-based certifications and I know a lot of really competent genealogical researchers. I also personally know some fantastically well-qualified genealogical researchers and some of them actually have organization letters after their names, but many do not.

I do not think anyone should judge the popularity of genealogical research by the numbers of people who sign up for an online genealogy website or take a genealogically related DNA test. Neither of these activities says anything about the person's degree of interest or competence in the subject. Likewise, there are huge numbers of people whose "genealogy" is on the large websites who have never even signed in to look at what is there. For example, some of the large online genealogy websites have millions of readily accessible public records from sources in the United States. I can sit down with a person who has never seen one of these websites and within a few minutes find a list of every place that person has lived in the last 50 years or so and find his or her parents and grandparents almost instantly.

The fact is that doing research of any kind is a technical, learned activity. Some people have innate talents that assist them in being "good" researchers but the only way someone learns how to do research is by doing it. Some schooling, including advanced university degrees in just about any subject, will help but competency in research is a bundle of skills that are learned over time. You may see a child prodigy who can play the piano at age three or four, but you will not see a child prodigy who can manage a major research project like those commonly encountered in searching historical documents for your ancestors.

What does all this mean to the average person who is interested in finding their ancestry? It simply means that there is a lot to learn and to seek help from knowledgeable researchers. But it does not mean that by putting a few names in an online family tree and taking a DNA test makes anyone a researcher.

Why would anyone want to do genealogical research? Good question. The answer is simple. Why would anyone do research of any kind? Research is a major component of all advanced academic pursuits. It is also a major component of most technical occupations. In my own background, putting up a beginning family tree and taking a DNA test and then thinking you can do genealogical research is like being called for jury duty and assuming you can give legal advice. Family trees and DNA tests are social activities with some questionable value, but they are not the basis for doing genealogical research. Don't misunderstand what I am saying, a DNA test, for example, will provide you with some information and it may be a valuable tool for genealogical research, but it is not doing genealogical research to simply take a DNA test.