Your family tree is of course interesting to you, and offers you some insight into where you and your family came from. It may offer you information about your ancestors of course, but also where they lived, and what they did for a living. More than this however, if you use your imagination and historical information, you will get a feel for what they lived through.
That's where contexting in genealogy will come in. What is contexting, as it relates to genealogy and family tree research? It simply means knowing what was going on in the general area of your family. Understanding the political climate and the finances that were taking place during that time span will help you to be a better researcher.
You may read in your history records that your family came from Ireland, and that they emigrated from Ireland in the late part of the 1800's.
What can you infer from that information, and what might have happened to make them want to come to America or where ever else they might have migrated to?Researching your family tree makes contexting a necessity. It helps you to understand more about your family, and to find information better, as well as to bring alive the family from the past.
Contexting will help you to understand not only who they are, but what they were and why they were doing what they were doing at that given time. For example, contexting means taking what you know and adding to it what you could surmise about the time, the things taking place in their area in that time span. Things will suddenly fall into place when you begin to see what your ancestors might have been dealing with during their lifetime or migration to another country.
Understanding that Ireland during the time span when your ancestors left was in the grip of a vast famine, and that many people were literally starving to death will help you to understand better what was going on in their life. This little bit of knowledge will help you to know better where to look for an ancestor who suddenly disappears from your history or genealogy records.
You might try seeking out ships passenger lists or obituaries or death notices for that area during the time you're interested in. Putting the information you have about what was happening in that area, what the families were living through and what kinds of things were taking place in the political arena will help you vastly.
Knowing what was going on in their life will give you valuable new insight about where to look next in your search for your family tree. Your research and family tree information will come more easily when you know why a given thing was happening.
When you begin to get involved in a given research, family tree information may or may not come rapidly. If it doesn't, take a few hours to read about the events that were taking place in the area you are researching. Get familiar with social problems or events taking place there. It will give you an immense advantage in your genealogy research.
Research Family Tree - More Than Just Dates