Genealogy, Migration, and the Intertwined Geographies of Personal Pasts

Abstract

Genealogical data have tremendous potential to reveal the geographic web of past family connections. In this article we propose a genealogical geography paradigm that utilizes queries of a database containing more than 800 million names to analyze historical migration patterns. Our conceptual model considers hourglass-shaped community ancestry and descendancy hinterlands that spread out from a local place and incorporates the ideas of diaspora, gathering, community stability, and genealogical mixing. In the process we introduce a set of statistical measures that define the migration geographies of multigenerational movements of related people. Three case studies utilizing these methods give an indication of what can be done with this analytical approach. The first case study examines the ancestry of Midwestern U.S. cities of 1900, illustrating multiple migration trajectories projecting eastward over four generations. The second considers patterns of migration to the Gold Rush–impacted areas of northern California (1850–1900) and highlights increasing community stability and shifting migration distances among mining and commercial centers. The third analyzes the geographic congruence of Fischer's (1989) four cultural pathway origins of people who migrated to Colonial America and lends mixed support of his claims. This research approach enriches our understanding of the migration and family processes that formed the geographically interconnected settlements and regional structures of the world.

Los datos genealógicos tienen un tremendo potencial para revelar la red geográfica de conexiones familiares pasadas. En este artículo proponemos un paradigma de geografía genealógica que utiliza las consultas a una base de datos de más de 800 millones de nombres para analizar patrones migratorios históricos. Nuestro modelo conceptual considera los hinterlands de ancestro y descendencia comunitarios con aspecto de reloj de arena que se dispersan a partir de un punto focal e incorpora las ideas de diáspora, reunión, estabilidad comunitaria y mezcla genealógica. A lo largo del proceso introdujimos un conjunto de medidas estadísticas que definen las geografías de migración de movimientos multigeneracionales de gente emparentada. Tres estudios de caso en los que se utilizan estos métodos dan una indicación de lo que se puede hacer con este enfoque analítico. El primer estudio de caso examina el ancestro de ciudades del medio oeste norteamericano hacia 1900, ilustrando trayectorias migratorias múltiples proyectadas hacia el este durante cuatro generaciones. El segundo caso considera los patrones migratorios hacia las áreas del norte de California impactadas por la Fiebre del Oro (1850–1900) y destaca la creciente estabilidad comunitaria y cambios de las distancias migratorias entre los centros mineros y comerciales. El tercero analiza las cuatro rutas de orígenes culturales según la congruencia geográfica de Fischer (1989) de la gente que migró hacia la Norteamérica Colonial proporcionándole apoyos mixtos a sus argumentos. Este enfoque de investigación enriquece nuestra comprensión de los procesos migratorios y familiares que formaron los asentamientos y estructuras regionales del mundo geográficamente interconectados.

Key Words:

• family history
• genealogy
• generational migration
• North America historical geography.

关键词:

• 家族史
• 系谱学
• 世代迁徙
• 北美历史地理学

Palabras clave:

• historia familiar
• genealogía
• migración generacional
• geografía histórica de Norteamérica

Notes

1. The New FamilySearch database is currently accessible by approved software developers and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but plans are to open the database to the general public in the future.

2. These total numbers of names by region were sent to the authors via e-mail from Gordon Clarke of FamilySearch, 26 June 2011.

3. We do not use the christening date and place data that are sometimes available for individuals.

4. We could derive a birth/death migration index to measure the stability or stickiness of people at a more immediate individual scale. This index uses the average distance a group of people migrated from their birthplace to their death place during their lives and can link cities, regions, or genders, which could strengthen an 1800s Irish outmigration study, for example (Myers 1977; Knowles 1995; Kilbride and Farley 2005). We also could compare differential migration patterns of men and women.