With other genealogy recording methods, there’s no fast, visual way of showing these events and their impact in a holistic way without digging into family notes or written family narratives.Īs genealogists, we can utilize this tool to discover new and interesting things about our families that we might not have seen until we sketch it out, which can ultimately give us other avenues to research. should be carefully studied, recognizing that these events can send shock waves through a family that could potentially affect future generations. Important events such as marriages, deaths, separations (divorce), immigration, etc. They can include all the key vital information (birth, marriage, and death particulars), but also have the added benefit of displaying even more information that can be used to understand the family environment. What makes genograms different than other genealogy charts? Well, a genogram is less static than a regular family tree view. Whether you fall into either of those groups, or somewhere in-between, genograms can give you a unique perspective into your family tree. One psychiatrist has grouped searchers into two categories: those who view searching as an “adventure” and those who view searching as “therapy”. Motivations for genealogy research are varied. I’d argue that doing genealogy research is family therapy we search for truth, process what it means and ultimately ask what that information tells us about our families and ourselves. Genograms are traditionally used as an assessment tool in some types of family therapy.
Have you ever heard of genograms? They’re not widely used in genealogy, but they should be!