Exciting discoveries: ancestral research makes new roots!

Exciting discoveries: ancestral research makes new roots!

Steyr-Land, Österreich - ancestral research is very trendy! She inspires many people and offers surprising insights into their own family history. In the current episode of the ORF talk format "Barbara Karlich Talk at 4" , six experts and enthusiastic hobby researchers discussed their experiences and findings in genealogical research. MEINDECTION initiated: "What did you find out about your ancestors?". This led to a lively exchange of interesting stories.

Katharina Ulbrich from Waldneukirchen shared her personal experiences and showed how genealogy can not only reveal old family strains, but also touching fates. Some participants reported noble ancestors, while others had to report on dramatic war experiences and flight. Such stories make it clear that ancestral research is far more than just a hobby - it is a journey through history.

The search for your own roots

The methods for researching your own roots are diverse. Young people rely on old photographs, sound recordings and oral traditions. In addition, many combine family research with house research to find out more about former homeowners and their ways of life. Parish matrics, such as baptismal, wedding and death books, are important sources that can be called up online until 1940. But not everyone has the necessary knowledge to decipher the old course. Here the text recognition through artificial intelligence is still at the beginning of the development.

A professional heir investigator also repeatedly encounters new, unknown relatives in his work and tells of the challenges of shaping the search for heirs of real estate and assets. The subject of this evening was also the controversial DNA tests for ancestry research platforms. ZDF today emphasizes that some participants saw the benefits of these tests to find unknown relatives, while other concerns about the storage and passing on of genetic data.

The possibilities that DNA tests offer on genealogy have gained popularity in recent years. These tests not only enable origin estimates, but also the matching with possible relatives. The five large providers such as Ancestry, Myheritage, 23andme, Familytreedna and Livingdna vary at the prices of the test kits that are between 33 and 91 euros. Stiftung Warentest has examined and found the seriousness of the various providers that not all of their promises can be kept.

The principle behind the tests is simple: After sending a saliva sample, genetic data is analyzed to show regions of origin and family connections. However, interested parties should note that the accuracy of the results depends heavily on the size of the reference databases used. The providers have different priorities: While Myheritage and Livingdna use many samples from Europe, most data come from Ancestrydna from the USA. Data protection is another explosive topic, because DNA data cannot be completely deleted and are potentially attackable.

The discussion about pedigree research and its methods therefore remains exciting. There is agreement on the importance of our roots: the characteristics of the grandparents and great -grandparents shape not only our family history, but also our own life. This makes it clear that ancestral research raises more and more questions than they answered, and every discovery is only the beginning of a new journey.