Track Health Problems In Your Tree
Of course, there’s more to genealogy than building a “tree” with compiled names and dates. For instance, the subject of genetics should be of interest to any family and an automatic part of every genealogist’s research.
“Family Diseases: Are You at Risk?,” a book by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, can help genealogists learn more about their genetic history than ever before.
“If you are like most people,” the book begins, “you probably think that genetic diseases are rare. While it is true that each of the more than 3,000 genetic disorders is relatively rare, taken as a group they are quite common.”
Countless people suffer from disorders that are somehow connected to defective genes or chromosomes. Genetic diseases are far more prevalent than is generally realized, Gormley wrote, as the statistics below indicate: Between 12 million and 15 million Americans have some kind of genetic disorder; 20 million Americans are carriers of true genetic defects; one out of every 250 newborn babies has a genetic disorder; and each of us carries an average of between four and seven abnormal recessive genes.
Moreover, scientists now say that the major cripplers and killers of adults - diabetes, heart disease, various psychiatric illnesses and some cancers - all have significant genetic components. Which means we inherit them from our ancestors.
It’s vital we know as much about our family’s health history as possible, Gormley said.
People who are aware of a predisposition toward a disease can take special precautions to prevent that disease, both by changing high-risk behavior and by catching health problems early.
As genealogists, we should not only compile names, dates and places, but also medical histories. We should document illnesses as far back as our four grandparents, according to Gormley, and if you’re able to trace back to the eight great-grandparents and obtain their medical information, so much the better.
The major records you need to locate, analyze and compile for your family health tree include: death certificates, newspaper obituaries, insurance company records, hospital records, medical records, census records, mortality schedules and military records.
Most genealogists don’t realize that, beginning in 1865, medical information on diseases or health conditions was included on insurance policies. In 1889, Mutual Life Insurance Co., began attaching medical examinations to its policies.
If any of these old records survive, they will be in the corporation’s archives. Consult “The Source,” by Luebking and Szucs (1997, Ancestry Inc.), for a list of life insurance companies that began business before 1876 and were in operation in 1942.
“Family Diseases: Are You at Risk?” is available for $11.95 plus $3.50 postage, from Clearfield Co., 200 E. Eager St., Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone, (410) 625-9004.
Here’s a word of caution Anne Long of Grangeville, Idaho, found in the introduction page of the Minnesota Genealogical Index and passed along: “While photocopying in small amounts does not normally violate copyright restrictions, please remember that the production of future volumes depends on the sale of current volumes. Every sale increases the possibility of more information being made available. If too few copies of this book are sold, we cannot afford to produce other volumes.”
Keep that admonition in mind as you stand copying every single page from a book or periodical.