Typically when we think of family history, we think in terms of a pedigree chart, which extends the direct line. But if we focus only on that direct line, we will be missing out on so many ancestors! In previous generations, the line of thinking about family history research was “stick to your direct line.” But the current message is more along on the lines of “find your relatives.” One of the best ways to find our missing relatives is look at our pedigree chart and work on creating a complete Family Group Sheet for each individual. (See this post for more background.)
Collateral lines include the siblings of our direct ancestors and all of their relatives. This can include spouses of siblings and their parents. It can include descendant research for any line in the family. Sometimes we find family groups that live in one town for generations. When doing research in these situations I frequently feel like I’m related to every person listed in the records. Collateral research allows you to verify that suspicion.
You can think of these collateral lines kind of like you are picking up a big pile of Legos. Rather than just carefully gathering all the Legos of one color, the most effective way of cleaning up is to take large scoops of Legos. Please don’t think that I am suggesting that you just start dumping names and dates into your family database. But you do want to pick up everyone that you can easily grab. When you see a family group that obviously goes together and you know that the father in the family is your ancestor’s sister, you should collect that family group and put them in your database.
One complaint that I hear from non-genealogists is that “everything in my line is done” so there’s no need to keep doing research. My response is, “HA!” I suspect that if you take a good look at any of these families where “everything has been done” you will find that the collateral lines are empty. If you need a new project to work on because you’re stuck at a brick wall, look at some of these collateral lines and see what you can fill in.
A great way to start collateral research is to take a blank family group sheet and see what spaces can be filled in. Your new research goals are filling in those remaining spaces. I do a lot of collateral research lately, and I find it so satisfying. The research is typically in record books that I have already used a lot in previous research, so it’s a familiar place to be. I love filling in a complete family group sheet and knowing that we have a family and ancestors that were previously unknown.
My story about my favorite ancestor, Kiersten Christensdatter, came about due to collateral research. Being thorough in our work helps us to uncover these forgotten people and to help us feel a greater connection to an ancestral community.