Page 10 - index

The Background

Q: Why do I need to know any background about the
study of genealogy?

A: To increase your awareness of the larger community you
participate in; to promote scholarship and fellowship
while being aware of unethical activities; to defend your
own interests or passion with sceptical relatives.

The popular pursuit of ancestors as we know it today was
not always enjoyed by people like you and me. In times
past, it was an exercise of the aristocracy, heralds and landed
gentry - the only beneficiaries of such a study. Titles, land,
fortunes, even kingdoms were not the only substantial
benefits of proven succession. In the British Isles and
Europe, the length of your pedigree or your heritable
expectations were a distinct social asset regardless of
financial circumstances. Legal and commercial interests were
not long in recognizing the possibihty of their own residual
gain.
Finding missing heirs to an old estate or a "lost" title is
not a new phenomenon. Concocting an embroidered
czlm'calzlm vitae or employment resume is not a twentieth-
century innovation. The duping of innocents into believing