What are the signs of an extended family tree and how can information found in a family health tree point to a specific disease or medical condition?
One way to answer this question is to look for medical histories found in public records, and compare those with information from the family tree. Sometimes, the medical information found in a family health tree points to disease or medical conditions not immediately apparent to the person looking at the tree.
Some families have long ago dispersed into different regions, leaving a trail of history behind them that can be analyzed using the family health tree. If relatives lived in similar conditions but did not share a family health tree, their medical information will probably be incomplete. For instance, cousin X may have died of smallpox before he married cousin Y. However, that does not mean that cousin X had smallpox, or that cousin Y did not. Similarly, if a spouse had a heart attack and was never diagnosed, that spouse’s family tree may contain some incorrect information, and that can throw the entire analysis off. When families spread out over many generations, the possibility of genealogy is strengthened.
Family health trees are designed to assist in genealogical studies by revealing the relationships of people within a family. By tracing the connections of people within a family tree, researchers can find out who preceded them and who came after. This method of investigation makes it possible to trace history back through the generations. If you look back through your family’s family health tree, you may find that some members were closely related but never close enough to have been related to each other. If so, you would learn about common ancestors and likely relatives, and you may also find out more about secondary relatives, who are not closely related, but may share certain genealogical connections.
Research has shown that family health trees can often reveal more about a person than what a doctor or genealogist might find. Researchers know from their studies that many diseases begin in childhood. Research has even shown that disease genetically runs in families. If there are several members of a family with a common disease, there is a higher chance than one out of each family will get the disease as well. A family health tree can help to reveal more about such familial relationships. It may indicate that a child may be at risk for a particular disease, or that an adult sibling may be at risk for the same disease.
If you have a health problem, and your family has a family health tree, you may be able to discover the origin of that disease before seeing a doctor. The disease may have emerged from a common ancestor. Or, the disease may have appeared later in a family when genetic variation has occurred. If you look at your family tree and discover that several members share a common ancestor with a particular disease, you may be able to locate the cause of the disease and perhaps take steps to prevent it in the future.
While medical research continues to improve and generate new knowledge, family history records hold great importance as historical resources. If you need information found in a family health tree to prove a relationship, or to provide information on ancestors, you may be able to discover it through an examination of your family’s history. When you examine it closely, you will see links to other relatives and their medical histories. These will provide a fascinating glimpse into the lives of those in your history. If you are researching someone else’s family, a family health tree could turn up relevant information. For example, if you are searching for a cousin whose maiden name was Smith and who died in a car accident, examining the family’s medical records may uncover the cause of her death.
