Genealogy Terms

As I work on my family tree, I find that I tend to make up my own terminology for genealogy.  I use derivatives of the word "tree".  Some of them include "treeing", "tree'd", "tree'r", and to use it in a sentence, "Why did this person tree this way?".   I come across various treeing methods on Ancestry.com and find so many inconsistencies.  I may need to write about family tree etiquette in a post too.  Maybe I'll learn something from it also.  I sometimes get so enthusiastic that I lose sight of my genealogy manners.

Back to the terminology that I'd like to post about......It really cracks me up that several websites want to sell you books about genealogy terms.  I guess that makes sense.  Every subject has specific terms associated with them.  Take insurance for example, it can be its own language if you don't understand the terms.  I have set out to find terminology online, for free.  It's like anything online.  The more you search, the more you find.  I plan to cover some basics in this initial post but may start some "language lesson" posts down the line as I try to advance from being an amateur to an intermediate genealogist.  I think that I'm getting there.

A "First Cousin, Once Removed" is the relationship that my Mom's first cousin has to me.  So those are my simple terms of explaining this terminology.  The technical definition reads something like this:  Individuals who share a common ancestor but not in your immediate family; the child of your first cousin is your first cousin, once removed.  Hey wait a minute; the definition uses the same words as the term to describe it.  I think we all get the picture though.  This is a pretty rudimentary term.

There are other "official" genealogy terms out there like "common ancestor", "direct line", "collateral line" and "relationship chart".  An example of a common ancestor might be my cousins and I share a common ancestor in our grandparents.  A direct line would be someone from whom you descend in a family tree.  Collateral line could be cousins off branches of your family tree.  A relationship chart indicates how relatives are interrelated to one another on the family tree.  I have a copy of one that I will try and post soon.

I also find the word lineage used.  That means line of descent.  There are many other terms out there like pedigree, heritage, DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), and brick wall.  I find it quite humorous that genealogy sites feel the need to define this term.  "Brick wall suggests a coming to a dead end in one's research".  I find it is more of an immediate screeching halt!

I like terminology because it does give you a footprint or even a path to follow in any subject.  It builds consistency with a common language so that we can communicate clearly with each other.  Maybe those language lesson posts would be a good idea.

News Flash - Was Bridget McLaughlin, actually a McLaughlin?

One of my favorite researchers contacted me the other day.  He's sending me information about our Maxwell family.  The fact that he is also a McLaughlin makes it even more interesting.  I definitely need to write a post about the Maxwell-McLaughlin marriages since there were at least two.

At any rate, he advised that the Mahardy's may not be relatives of the McLaughlin's after all.  Another one of my favorite researchers has indicated that they may in fact be related.  There is no doubt that the Mahardy's and McLaughlin's knew each other and were close friends who probably did treat each other like family.  I have information indicating that the Mahardy's (or Mahady in Ireland) were probably neighbors in County Longford.  I have McLaughlin's living in and around Ringowney, Parish of Edgeworthstown, Longford, Ireland.  I have found the Mahardy's there too.

I have, in fact, a researcher in Ireland who went to try and find my McLaughlin's in Ringowney.  She found the marriage of Michael Mahardy to Bridget McLaughlin.  The snag on the tree is that Bridget may have been married before.  She may have been married to Patrick and Michael McLaughlin's brother, making her a McLaughlin by her first marriage.  Since we don't know who all of the family member's were for the first generation of the descendants of Thomas McLaughlin, it is hard to know for sure.

My Irish researcher has found that the historical society for Edgeworthstown has disbanded and is no longer.  How sad is that?  I know that maintaining a historical society takes time, volunteers, sometimes a little bit of money, and a desire to forge ahead.  I suppose that not everyone is a historian, genealogist, researcher, librarian or even a record keeper.

Again the more I research, the more questions I come across.  Hat's off to my McLaughlin researchers, one of which is a Maxwell too.  They have spent hours researching history, our family tree, records, and maintain the best records they can with their knowledge.  Questioning things is a good thing.  It gets us all to look a little harder at what we've found.  I am prepared to look a little harder if the information can present itself.  Someone must know something about the McLaughlin's of Ringowney, Parish of Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland, circa 1780-1820.  They did not all get up and leave Ireland, I'm sure.

Actually, I am sure.  The McLaughlin name is still prevalent in the Edgeworthstown area.  My Irish researcher, who is a Flanagan and a Duffy, told me so.  Hat's off to her, too!