How do people do their genealogy!?

answers1: Grandma's cousin CLAIMS to have searched her genealogy. <br>
In fact, what she probably has done, is COPY posted family trees from
the internet, with NO idea what is or isn't proven or provable.
Reputable genealogist will not claim anything that they personally
have not identified the documentation. <br>
You are correct. It is NOT possible. But cousin would have a hissy fit
if you tried to explain why.
answers2: If you get back to the 1400s - 1600s, you'll probably get to
someone who claims to be the illegitimate child of royalty. Once you
do, you can probably get to Charlemagne. Once you do that, you can get
back to Adam and Eve. How you do it is to put all of your doubts on
hold and believe whatever you find, without any proof at all, so long
as it gets you back there. <br>
<br>
A scribe traced Charlemagne back to Adam and Eve, using the Bible as
his only source, at Charlemagne's request. His work is widely copied.
I don't trust it. <br>
<br>
I'm pretty happy if I get to 1850 on any of the lines I'm tracing.
Before that, verifiable records start getting harder and harder to
find. (1850 was the first year the census wrote down the names of
everyone in the family, if they were white.) It is physically possible
to get back to the late 1700's, sometimes, but it usually takes more
than a subscription to Ancestry to do so; you have to do real research
in dusty old county archives and libraries. <br>
<br>
Most people, fundamentalist Christians aside, think that Adam and Eve
were mythical people, or allegorical ones. Every culture has its
creation myths, and that was the one that took hold in Christian
Europe. Most (99.999%) of anthropologists believe humans walked out of
Africa, probably in waves, somewhere around 100,000 years ago, give or
take 50,000 years.
answers3: You start with yourself and work back one generation at a
time by using primary written records, such as your birth certificate,
proves you and your parents, so two generations of your family
tree......... and you continue with this until there are no more
records to research, which for the majority of people is 1750 ish some
countries and some lines you may be able to get back another couple of
hundred years............ but no one can prove back to Adam and Eve,
simply as there are not the records to do that, so you are right, it
isn't possible...........
answers4: It's not possible to get back to Adam and Eve. The problem
is, most families will never get past the 1800s. Some families can go
to about the 1600s. Rare is it that anyone can go farther back. Royals
lied about their lineage to seem more important or prove right to
rule. There are no documents that connect the modern era to Ancient
Rome, which you would need to do in order to connect to Biblical
times. And despite our religious beliefs whatever they may be, no
historian accepts the Bible as proof for genealogical purposes. Anyone
that claims to be all the way to the beginning of time has used
another person's research and that other person has taken them for a
ride (or been taken for one themselves.) <br>
<br>
Genealogy is all about documenting. You start with yourself and work
backwards. Without a document to prove the next generation back, you
can't go back with any degree of certainty. And to get to Ancient
Rome, one must make several dozen (if not hundred) assumptions. And
you know what they say about assuming? <br>
<br>
If you were to look at your grandma's cousin's research and test their
documentation to determine how accurate it was, you'd find two things:
1. it wouldn't be accurate and 2. 90% of the time, people who make the
claim have no documentation.
answers5: I've came across parts of my tree that I've seen on other
peoples trees that they've traced theirs back all the way to the
800-900's royalty. Most of mine in my tree is at earliest is 1400s.
But I've been researching sideways as well (i.e. spouses and their
side of the family and their spouses parents kids and their spouses,
ect.)
answers6: You can't go back that far if you want to be accurate. The
furthest I've gone is the mid-1400's and that's only one line. The
other parts of my family I can't get past the 1850's. <br>
<br>
If you want to be accurate, you need to start with what you know
(living relatives) and work backwards. Confirm places and dates with
real documents, don't just copy a stranger's tree because you don't
know where they got their info