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.