One of the most fundamental things we can do in our genealogy research is to prove parentage. It’s important we correctly link the generations before moving up the family tree. If we don’t, we may be tracing someone else’s family instead of our own.
Depending on the time and place, proving parents can be easy or challenging. It’s easy when multiple records directly answer your question about parentage. When there are few to none, it gets a little trickier. In this blog post, I’ll explain documents for finding parents and some challenges you may encounter along the way.
Top Genealogy Records That May List Parents
Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificates
Birth certificates typically include the names of the child’s parents. This may be one of the first places we look in our genealogy research. Remember to first check when birth certificates started for your place and time.
Marriage certificates may list the names of both sets of parents. Also, check the names of the witnesses for clues of family.
Death certificates may include the deceased individual’s parents’ names. This information is only as good as the informant, so use it as a clue and not a fact.
Census Records
Census records often include household members, including parents, along with their ages and relationships to the head of the household. Starting in 1850 every person in the home is listed, but not their relationship to the head of household. Stating relationships started with the 1880 census.
Baptismal Records
Baptismal records commonly state the names of the baptized individual’s parents – or at least one of them. These records are especially useful for tracing family relationships within religious communities.
Probate Records
Probate records may contain information about heirs and beneficiaries, including parents of the deceased.
Land Deeds
Land deeds sometimes include parents’ names, especially in cases where property is inherited or passed down through generations. This record set is used more for finding descendants than parents, but you may get lucky.
Military Records
Military records occasionally include next of kin information, including parents’ names. More often than not, you’ll get information on a marriage or children. These clues may lead you to find the parents.
Immigration Records
Passenger lists and immigration documents may include details about family members traveling together, including parents’ names. There may be a second page, so make sure to look at everything.
Obituaries
Obituaries often mention surviving family members, including parents of the deceased. These notices provide information for our genealogy research.
My Journey To Prove Parentage
I’m going through my family tree verifying my ancestors’ parents, and ensuring all my sources are cited…starting with the parents of John Edward McKamey, my great-grandfather.
Vital Records
Birth, marriage, and death records are important documents in genealogy research. I found John Edward’s death certificate online. This gives direct evidence that his parents were John McKamey and Edith Hightower. 1
There is a marriage record for John Edward, but no parents are listed. I came up empty for birth and baptism records as well. Anderson County, Tennessee didn’t start recording births until 1881 and statewide registration didn’t begin until 1914.2 So far, I just have one piece of evidence listing his parents.
Census Records
Since John Edward was born around 1873, the 1880 census is an excellent place to start. He lived in the John McKamy household. Beginning in 1880 relationships were included in census records, so the fact that John Edward is listed as the son of John McKamy also gives us direct evidence of parentage. John’s wife was Ada. I’m not sure if Ada was a nickname or Edith’s middle name as I have found her called Edith, Ada, and Eady.
Probate Records
These can be wonderful documents to prove parentage. Unfortunately, in this case, there are no probate records. John McKamey died in the Fraterville Mine Explosion, so there is no will.
DNA Testing
I have several DNA matches from siblings of John Edward that prove my lineage back to John McKamey and Edith Hightower. It’s important to look for descendants other than your direct line to help your case.
Challenges
Incomplete Records
Genealogy research is sometimes hampered by incomplete or missing records, making it challenging to prove parentage beyond doubt. Sometimes you have to use indirect evidence to build your case. Indirect evidence is when you have a research question that is not directly answered by a source and its information. You have to combine it with other pieces of evidence to arrive at your conclusion.
Common Names
Common names can cause confusion and lead to mistakes. To tell people with the same or similar names apart, you need to pay close attention to details and carefully review all available records.
Illegitimacy and Adoption
Proving parentage gets trickier when it involves illegitimate births or adoptions. In these cases, you may need to look at other sources, like court records, adoption papers, or even family stories, to find important clues.
Finally
Proving parentage is one of the most important parts of genealogy. Using all available records like vital records, census records, and obituaries helps to make your case that you have the correct set of parents for your ancestors. There may be challenges along the way, but making sure you’re climbing the correct family tree is worth the effort.
Genealogy tip: Take your time! Racing through the generations may provide more ancestors, but unless you take the time to prove the parent/child link, you may be doing a lot of research for nothing.
Are you just starting out researching your family? Or do you need a fresh set of eyes on research you’ve already done? I’d love to help. Click the button to contact me.
1“Tennessee, U.S., Death Certificates, 1908-1965,” file number 49-04105, John Edward McKamey, died 17 Feb 1949, Anderson County, Tennessee; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 Feb 2023), image 73; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives.
2 “Anderson County, Tennessee Genealogy,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Anderson_County,_Tennessee_Genealogy: accessed 11 August 2023.
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