"Cluster Genealogy: Broadening the Scope"
by Emily Anne Croom
Cluster genealogy is the idea that ancestors did not live in a vacuum but in a cluster of relatives, neighbors, friends, and associates. Studying the history of one person naturally puts the researcher in contact with members of this group, as witnesses to each other's documents, as neighbors, as in-laws, as fraternal brothers and sisters, as business partners or clients, and so forth. Our ancestors often migrated in family groups, as church congregations, or as a group of neighbors. They often lived very close to other family members.
They worshiped with, went to war with, bought land from, and were buried near friends and relatives. Although we may not know the names of this group when we begin researching a focus ancestor, we must train ourselves to look for its members.
Some researchers call this the "whole family" approach or the "big picture" approach. Regardless of the name, the principle is the same: We cannot have long-term success if we limit ourselves to a one-name/one-person approach.
When research begins on a focus ancestor, the genealogist may know nothing more than the ancestor's name, with perhaps a date and place of marriage or an entry on a census record. If applicable, after 1850, the next effort is often to find that person in the context of a family in other census records. Then we move to other basic sources--such as vital records, wills and probate files, family Bibles, church records, and newspaper obituaries--to find names, dates, places, and relationships in the life of the target ancestor. We branch out into land records, military and pension files, naturalization documents, and other sources that sometimes identify the spouse, children, birth and death information, or parents.
We compile at least two family group sheets from this information: one with the focus ancestor as a parent in a family, the other with the ancestor as a child. These two nuclear families are the beginning of, and an important part of, the ancestor's cluster. Sometimes these charts are all we need to move back in time to the parent and grandparent generations.
When we cannot find direct statements of the events, names, dates, places, and relationships we need for our focus ancestor, we search for clues and evidence wherever we can find them to get the answers indirectly. The cluster is often the path toward these clues. Some clusters provide more help than others, and some are easier to identify than others. However, one thing is certain: a researcher has a much greater chance of success when studying the cluster than when clinging to one name as the sole subject of the research. The progress report in chapter seven and the case studies in chapters ten and eleven [of Croom's book
, The Sleuth Book for Genealogists
] are examples of the use of cluster genealogy to find answers.
WHY THE CLUSTER?
Why is the cluster approach necessary? For those who have never tried this approach or have not yet needed it to build pedigree charts, some convincing is often in order. Mostly, we use the cluster approach because we want solutions. As in mystery stories, the family and close associates may hold the key to the answer. True, some of the people you will research with this approach may not be related to you. However, if you stick stubbornly to a one-name-only approach, you may end up claiming as ancestors people not related to you.
Consider these reasons for the cluster approach:
In family papers and oral traditions, each child may remember or record different facts about a parent; we put the facts together to get a more complete picture.
1.
For some ancestors, answers are simply not found in documents they themselves created. If Major Grace sells his land to Stark Brown, he may not mention that he inherited his land from his father. However, when Stark Brown sells the same land to Pleasant Luster, the deed may name Major's father as the original patentee of the land.
2.
Some ancestors left few records themselves; the only way to learn about them is through records that others created. One Mississippi man "disappeared" for a few years from his researcher; then, in someone else's diary, she found that he had gone to California during the gold rush. Ancestors who owned no land, for instance, will not usually appear in the deed books, except maybe as witnesses to others' transactions. Why were they asked to be a witness? Maybe the seller was a brother-in-law, a cousin, or the nearest neighbor. The other person's transaction places the ancestor in that place at that time, alive. That one piece of information is sometimes very important.
3.
When several people by the same name lived in the same county at the same time, their nuclear families and close associates are sometimes the keys to sorting them out. We want to find the right elusive ancestor, not just anybody by the same name.
WHO IS THE CLUSTER?
When you run into that old brick wall in your search, what are your options? Give up on that line and go to one likely to have more information readily available? Get on the Internet with query after query: "I need the parents, grandparents, wife's maiden name, birth date and birthplace, and names of in-laws of Donald Doe of Whatever County, Iowa. I've looked everywhere, and all I can find is that he came to Iowa as a young man just after the Civil War. Will share information"?
A query such as this says several things: (1) The descendant may have little or nothing of substance to share in return, (2) the descendant probably has not looked everywhere, and (3) the descendant may not have a clue of what to try next. That is not an uncommon predicament for researchers at some point along the way. What about the option of researching for the next of kin?
The would-be researcher in the query needs to list everything known about the ancestor and make a research plan. This time, it is cluster time. The disclaimer is that some searches do come to a real dead end before you are ready, but the good news is that many tough searches can be solved. The successful ones often involve the cluster. The cluster includes the next of kin, extended family, neighbors, friends, associates, and other people of the same surname. [END]
For another in-depth discussion of “cluster research,” see:
